UK ‘complicit in cruel trade in wild monkeys’ for lab tests as government refuses to match EU ban

Exclusive: Ministers to keep up imports of offspring of macaques caught from Mauritian habitats

More than 1,140 long-tailed macaques were imported from Mauritius last year for research (Getty Images)

The government is refusing to align with an EU plan to halt imports of the offspring of wild-caught macaque monkeys for medical research.

It has prompted claims the UK is complicit in a “cruel” trade in wild animals that risks sparking and spreading new diseases.

More than 1,140 live long-tailed macaques were imported from Mauritius last year for medical research, according to government figures.