Canada imported nearly 1,800 endangered wild caught monkeys for testing and research, sparking calls for a ban

A long-tailed macaque kept for use in clinical research, at the National Primate Research Center in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2020. Nearly 1,800 wild-caught macaques from Mauritius and Cambodia were imported to Canada between 2021 and 2023.

Canada has imported nearly 1,800 endangered wild-caught monkeys from Mauritius and Cambodia for use in testing and research since 2021, prompting calls from animal welfare advocates to ban the practice.

The advocates say Canada is out of step with other countries, such as Britain, which have banned the import of primates caught from the wild for use in animal testing.

They say such imports cause suffering not just to the individual primates but their family groups, and raise concerns about the spread of zoonotic diseases.

According to the latest Conve