A whole troop of monkeys housed in a NASA facility were reportedly killed instead of being sent to a shelter – and a New York lawmaker wants to know why.
All 27 primates at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California were given lethal doses of drugs to euthanize them on Feb. 2, 2019, the Guardian revealed Tuesday.
The monkeys got older and 21 had Parkinson’s disease, the Guardian said, citing documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
In a September 8 letter obtained by The Post, US Representative Kathleen Rice (D-NY) also quoted NASA’s “Animal Disposition Records 2018-19” and a related letter calling on NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine to justify the slaughter. .
Rice said several monkeys “simply experienced the effects of old age and were housed in a lab indefinitely, despite not being used in a recent research protocol.”
“If no attempts to retire in a shelter have been considered, please explain why this is the case,” she wrote. “I’m concerned that a failure to even consider putting these monkeys in a sanctuary on a case-by-case basis instead of euthanizing the entire colony is an unnecessary waste of animal life.”
Animal rights advocates were also outraged by the shocking revelation.
John Gluck, an expert in animal ethics at the University of New Mexico, said the monkeys “apparently were not considered an opportunity for sanctuary life.”
“Removal instead of the expression of simple decency. Shame on those responsible, ”he said.
Mike Ryan of Rise for Animals, a nonprofit that obtained the documents, said the monkeys were treated as “tragic side issues.”
“NASA has many strengths, but when it comes to animal welfare practices, they are outdated,” he added.
NASA used chimpanzees and other primates to test its Mercury space capsule and launched a famous 3-year-old chimpanzee named Ham into space in 1961.
But the monkeys killed last year were part of a joint care agreement with LifeSource BioMedical, a pharmaceutical company renting space in the Ames Research Center, the Guardian said.
Stephanie Solis, CEO of LifeSource, told the Guardian that the company got the bugs “ years ago ” because their age and ill health prevented them from being placed in a shelter.
Solis also said the monkeys had not been subjected to research experiments since.
“We agreed to accept the animals, act as a sanctuary and provide all care at their own expense, until their advanced age and declining health resulted in a decision to humanely euthanize in order to achieve a poor quality of life. avoid it, ”said Solis.
A NASA spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.