EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Employees Claim 'Horrific' Treatment of Primates at Lab
Hidden-Camera Investigation Goes Behind Closed Doors at New Iberia Research Center
By LISA FLETCHER and ARASH GHADISHAH
March 4, 2009—
Tucked into a rural section of Louisiana, a few miles from Lafayette, an unexpected compound springs from the landscape. It is the nation's largest primate testing lab. The New Iberia Research Center, part of the University of Louisiana, houses more than 6,000 primates and one of the largest captive populations of chimpanzees in the world.
"Nightline" obtained the results of a nine-month undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States. A Humane Society investigator took a hidden camera inside the New Iberia Research Center for most of 2008. The video shows what the Society says is the way monkeys and great apes are treated behind closed doors.
...
The New Iberia Research Center is a public facility, and its research includes contract work for pharmaceutical companies and hepatitis studies. The lab receives millions in public funding but limited public scrutiny.
~snip~
The Humane Society investigator told ABC News that chimpanzees, often perched several feet off the ground, are shot with sedation guns, with little regard for their safety. The video shows chimps crashing to the floor. "The sedated chimp would be sort of rocking slowly on the perch, then, out of nowhere, they just smack to the floor," the investigator said. "It was horrific to watch and to hear."
The Humane Society investigator who gained access as an employee shot video of a lab worker striking a restrained monkey's teeth three times with a pipe. The investigator says the employee wanted the monkey to open its mouth. "The man is sort of threatening him with this pole and smacking his teeth at the same time," the investigator said, describing the video.
Another piece of video shows a lab employee hitting an infant monkey in the head and swearing when the monkey bites at her finger.
~snip~
The Humane Society of the Unites States video appears to support claims made by another former New Iberia Research Center employee.
Narriman Fakier, who was the coordinator for 100 chimpanzees at the center from the fall of 2002 until February 2004, said she was told to quit or be fired after repeatedly complaining about what she said were illegal and abusive practices at the lab. She has since filed a lawsuit against New Iberia as a whistle-blower.
"I am for the responsible use of animals in research," Fakier said.
Fakier has worked in several prestigious labs, and she said she's never seen anything like the practices at the New Iberia Research Center.
"Nothing like this," Fakier said. "I have to tell you, I've seen rats and mice treated better than this."
~snip~
"Nightline" conducted the interview with Narriman Fakier without telling her that the Humane Society investigation had taken place or that the undercover video existed. When she saw the footage for the first time, she said much of what was on the tape was what was happening at the facility when she was there five years earlier. "They're still at it; nothing has changed," Fakier said. "It's about the money. There's big bucks in this research, especially chimp research. We're talking millions. Millions of dollars."
~snip~
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=6997869&page=1
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