PETA has gotten wind through multiple sources that monkey importation and experimentation colossus Charles River Laboratories has convinced the U.S. government to reopen a monkey supply pipeline from Cambodia, despite well-documented and widespread smuggling and laundering of wild-caught macaques falsely labeled as captive-bred.
This cannot happen. PETA is strongly urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to suspend and permanently ban monkey imports from Cambodia immediately.
In early 2023, Fish and Wildlife suspended the importation of monkeys from Cambodia following Charles River’s importation of 1,269 monkeys from Cambodia that the company could not prove were not illegally abducted from forests. Its own 5-year investigation found that tens of thousands of these macaques were illegally stolen from the forests to fill U.S. laboratories.
Now it appears that Charles River has cozied up to former Department of the Interior head David Bernhardt to use his influence to help grease the skids to reopen the Cambodian pipeline.
Bernhardt oversaw the Fish and Wildlife Service’s five-year investigation into the Cambodian monkey trade during the first Trump administration, and he is well aware of the widespread smuggling and laundering that the Service found. But he has been busy since leaving his government job.
In March, he was seen alongside Charles River CEO Keven McNelly, touring Cambodian monkey breeding facilities. In...
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