27 monkeys held at Nasa research centre killed in 2019, report says

Animal rights activists condemn failure to put animals in sanctuary

27 monkeys were put to death at Ames research center in California’s Silicon Valley last year, a report by the Guardian has claimed (AFP via Getty Images)

Twenty-seven monkeys held at Nasa’s Ames research centre in California’s Silicon Valley were put to death in one day last year, a new report by The Guardian has claimed.

Every monkey held by the centre was put to death by administrated drugs on 2 February last year, documents obtained by the newspaper reportedly revealed.

According to the report, which cites documents released under freedom of information laws, monkeys were ageing and 21 were suffering from Parkinson's disease.

The animals were housed by a tenant leasing a facility named LifeSource BioMedical, a separate drug research entity.

Nasa told The Independent: “The monkeys belonged to LifeSource Biomedical, a tenant leasing a facility at Nasa's Ames Research Center. The monkeys did not belong to NASA, and were never a part of Nasa’s research program."

Stephanie Solis, chief executive of LifeSource BioMedical, told The Guardian: “We agreed to accept the animals, acting as a sanctuary and providing all care at our own cost, until their advanced age and declining health resulted in a decision to humanely euthanize to avoid a poor quality of life,” she said.

Animal rights advocates and others have condemned the decision to put the animals to death rather than move them to a sanctuary.

Mike Ryan, spokesman for Rise for Animals, the group that obtained the freedom of information documents on the Ames primate deaths, called the lives of the monkey’s “tragic afterthoughts.”

“NASA has many strengths, but when it comes to animal welfare practices, they’re obsolete.”

John Gluck, an expert in animal ethics at the University of New Mexico, told the newspaper that primates “were suffering the ethological deprivations and frustrations inherent in laboratory life”.

Mr Gluck expressed frustration that the monkeys were “apparently not considered worthy of a chance at a sanctuary life”.

“Not even a try?” he added. "Disposal instead of the expression of simple decency. Shame on those responsible.”

Kathleen Rice, a Democrat US House representative who has been pushing for researchers to consider “humane retirement policies” for animals, told the newspaper she had wrote to Jim Bridenstine, NASA’s administrator, asking for an explanation of the deaths.

“I look forward to an explanation from administrator Bridenstine on why these animals were forced to waste away in captivity and be euthanized rather than live out their lives in a sanctuary,” Ms Rice told The Guardian.

More and more research facilities are retiring the monkeys used for animal testing to sanctuaries rather than euthanising them in recent years.

However, thousands of monkeys continue to be used for experiments, with a record 74,498 used in US research in 2017, a record year for monkey use.