You can raise your voice by signing our online petition, sending a letter to the Nepal Government or Embassies, or, even better, by meeting government officials in your neighbourhood. Schools and communities can organise demonstrations, or offer joint petitions to the authorities. Most importantly, do not cooperate in the capture of monkeys. Remember by catching a monkey you inflict great suffering on this very special animal.

Sign the petition
For signing the petition go to http://www.petitiononline.com/anpo/HsmuiODwCSqC.cgi

Write a letter to the Nepalese government or Embassy
Draft letter:

Dear Prime Minister, Ambassador,
Since 2003 your government allows the breeding and export of rhesus monkeys for biomedical. What's more, your government actually provide primate centers with monkeys from National Parks managed by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.

The primary objectives of your government are to conserve the country's major representative ecosystems, unique natural and cultural heritage, and give protection to the valuable and endangered wildlife species. Now that you are supporting the breeding and exporting of primates for biomedical research, these objectives are being violated.

Monkeys are considered sacred and an important part of Nepal 's heritage for a number of reasons. Monkeys are highly intelligent animals and maintain intricate social structures. They have complex emotional lives, caring for one another and showing love to their babies as we humans do to our children. Ethically, using monkeys in experiments that inflict mental and physical pain is unacceptable and unconscionable.

Research illustrates that primate experimentation is no longer the "gold standard" for study design. Past experience has demonstrated that animal-modelled biomedical research yields results that cannot be safely applied to humans. In addition, there are now many alternative research methods (methods not using living animals) that are capable of providing clinically relevant data.

We believe the decision is not in accordance with the Working Policy on Wildlife Farming, Breeding and Research 2003, as communities living with monkeys do not benefit from this development at all, and inflicting suffering to animals goes against the spirit of the Muluki Ain. If the Government is serious about supporting animal conservation and helping farmer communities it should implement long term, scientific solutions to monkey overpopulation, such as birth control and farm land protection.

Nepal will not deserve credit for providing monkeys for biomedical research by maintaining outdated, unreliable, and unethical methods for conducting studies. We are now living in an era when ethics as well as state-of-the-art study design are important considerations when doing research.

Global trends indicate a strong movement towards the abolition of experiments on primates. This is one of the reasons why it is increasingly difficult for American research centers to find sufficient research primates. However, an increasing number of primates are needed by the US , especially for bio-terrorism research. American centers try to find loopholes in the world's legal animal rights provisions, and in Nepal (one of the few countries in the world still largely without such legislation) it has found ideal working ground.

I strongly request your government to demonstrate its commitment to enlightened and ethical research practices by halting (breeding facilities for) biomedical research on Nepalese monkeys and implement legislation to prevent such developments from reoccurring.

Thanking you in advance,
Was signed

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Send the letter to:
Hon. Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Singha Durbar
Kathmandu , Nepal
Telegrams: Prime Minister, Kathmandu , Nepal
Faxes: + 977 1 227 286 or 428 570
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister