The revision of the EU Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes - European Union Committee Contents


Memorandum by The Mauritian Cyno Breeders Association (CBA) and Noveprim

  The Mauritian Cyno Breeders Association (CBA) is a registered association regrouping all the Cynomolgus monkey breeders in Mauritius.

  The CBA wishes to express its views on the proposed revision of the european directives for the supply and use of NHPs in scientific procedures, and mainly the restriction for the use of second off-spring generations (F2).

  Mauritius exports over 4,000 macaques to the EU every year. The production of F2 in Mauritius, as requested in articles 9 and 27 of the directive, if imposed, will generate a number of long term consequences which we wish to bring to your consideration.

1.  CONSERVATION ASPECTS—CONTROL OF ALIEN SPECIES AND IMPACT ON INDIGENOUS FAUNA AND FLORA

  The macaque is not indigenous to Mauritius and is considered by the National Conservation Authorities to be a nuisance to the environment: indigenous rare birds (destruction of nests and eggs), endemic trees (destruction of slow maturing fruits) and crops (sugar cane and vegetable crops). To date the Mauritian authorities have been encouraging breeders to trap from the wild as a means of controlling the population of macaques. For many years now a number of foreign NGO's have also been spending large amounts of money for conservation of indigenous species in Mauritius.

  Well managed trapping of monkeys for breeding purposes does not raise serious animal welfare concerns in the light of current breeding and animal care practices. The Cynomolgus macaque is known to be highly adaptable to captive conditions when used for breeding purposes.

  An increase in the wild macaque population in Mauritius would have a serious impact on agriculture and indigenous fauna and flora, and this may lead to control by culling or hunting.

2.  PROBLEMS RELATED TO BREEDING OF F1 MACAQUES FOR F2 PRODUCTION

  We believe that very few breeding centres in the world have the experience of F2 generation and their physiological performance.

  In Mauritius, a program to increase F2 production has resulted in health and productivity problems, such as:

    — Higher incidence of obesity.

    — Earlier onset of Type II Diabetes.

    — Premature ageing.

    — Higher rate of infanticide/aggression by F1 males.

    — An increase of abandoned babies, malnutrition and generally improper infant care from F1 breeders.

  F2 production is thus much slower than anticipated because:

    — Of lower reproductive rate of the females.

    — Breeders have to be replaced at an earlier age than anticipated because of premature ageing.

  Breeding from F1 females will increase inbreeding, especially in Mauritius where the original wild colony came from a few individuals only. We cannot forecast the effect of inbreeding with F1 breeders on the long term. Several problems have been experienced with small Mauritian F1 colonies and it is too early to know whether these will be manageable on a larger scale.

3.  WELFARE ISSUES

The advantages of F2 as regards animal welfare are doubtful:

  A significant increase in the number of animals to be kept in captivity will be necessary to produce the same number of offspring.

  In most of the cases, experimental protocols require both genders in equal proportion. Because a significant number of females need to be set apart to replace retired breeder females, there will be a surplus of males which cannot be absorbed by research laboratories. These excess unsaleable males will need to be euthanised.

4.  LEAD TIME AND AVAILABILITY

  A fast transition to F2 breeding will have a serious impact on availability of animals for research over the following years.

  It would take several years to produce F2 offspring in the same quantity as the F1 offspring presently produced and exported.

  As stated above, a program to increase production of F2 animals generated several breeding and management problems and this has lead to a pessimistic forecast as regards sole production of F2.

  From our experience it appears that the young feral female is a better mother to its first offspring. The first baby from a captive F1 breeder is seldom viable. The F1 breeder therefore has to be sustained for at least five years before being productive.

  At present the demand for F2 offspring is insignificant and mainly confined to the UK. F2 offspring produced in Mauritius are presently sold together with the F1 without distinction. Demand for F1 animals cannot presently be fulfilled, making it difficult for breeders to keep significant numbers of F1 offspring and mature them for breeding.

  F2 production leads to lower availability of F1 females for research and thus reduces the availability of older, mature animals.

  In order to meet requirements, with F2 animals only, the total number of captive animals for breeding purposes would have to be at least doubled. This means that there will be a serious shortage of monkeys for research for several years while the number of F1 breeders is being increased.

5.  FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES

  As the breeding colonies will have to be extended to generate sufficient F2 animals for the EU, the price of monkeys in EU will increase seriously as a result of increased costs.

  Should Mauritian breeders have to move to F2 breeding, the substantial cost increases would be passed on the users in the EU. These costs increases may result in primate research leaving the EU, with negative effects on pharmaceutical and biotechnology research.

  Higher costs are due to:

    — F1 females being kept longer before they can produce offspring: the first saleable offspring requires six to seven years lead time from the date when the F1 female is selected.

    — F1 females kept for breeding reduce the number of saleable females and further, the male that would be sold as a pair becomes unsaleable, ie a 50% loss of income.

6.  QUALITY OF THE MAURITIAN INDUSTRY

  The members of the CBA in Mauritius have become world reputed breeders and suppliers of high quality Cynomolgus monkeys. The main reasons why laboratories buy Mauritian macaques are:

    — Mauritius macaques have the unique advantage of being naturally SPF, and are sought after for health and safety reasons as they do not carry the Herpes virus simiae, which can be fatal to humans. This is important to reputed laboratories committed to the protection of their employees. Mauritian macaques are also naturally free from SRV, SIV, STLV, rabies and a number of other contaminants.

    — Mauritian breeders have put the accent on quality, most of them are AAALAC accredited today and follow European animal welfare and care recommendations.

    — Mauritian breeders have long established supplier relationships with reputed European biomedical laboratories.

7.  OUR POSITION

  There is no commercial interest to produce F2 animals; the only interest is the knowledge of the technique required for F2 production.

  The alternatives available to Mauritian breeders are:

    — Turn to other markets which will continue to use F1 animals.

    — Maintain small F1 breeders' colonies which have little economic impact on the company.

    — Increase the price of saleable animals to compensate for unusable males.

  The Association strongly believes that moving to closed F2 producing colonies will have a detrimental consequence on the research community, both in terms of price and animal quality.

  The consequences on the Mauritius eco-system will also be serious in that rare birds and plants, already on the verge of extinction, will have to face an increasing number of predators.

  We thank you for your consideration.

6 May 2009

OPINION OF NOVEPRIM ON THE USE OF PRIMATES OF F2 GENERATION IN RESEARCH

  The objective of this document is to demonstrate the consequence of the transition to F2 generation for the use of primates in research, from a Mauritian breeding perspective. This opinion is supplementary to the letter from CBA addressed to the House of Lords on 06 May 2009 (see CBA letter annexed).

1.  STATUS

  Every year, approximately 4,000 Mauritian macaques (Macaca fascicularis) are exported to the EU Laboratories. 60% are supplied by Noveprim.

  Our housing structures, sanitation and health care programs are regularly assessed in order to be in strict conformity with EU and international standards. The different systems we use to ensure high quality include: ISO 9001 and British Home Office certification since 1998, AAALAC accreditation in 2006, and the Noveprim Ethics Committee complying with the US norms created in 2006.

2.  FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

  We believe that the financial implications relating to the production of F2 has not been taken into account in the Impact Assessment in reviewing directive 86/609.

  The transition from the breeding of F1 to F2 generation means that we must build new accommodation facilities, keep and look after young animals for a longer period of time; more so that we cannot dispose of them.

  The cost of the whole project would include:

    — Structural and operational investments estimated at Euros 50 millions for the entire Mauritian breeding industry, which represents two years revenue.

    — A reduction of the number of animals available for laboratory research.

    — A 50% increase on the price of one macaque compared to the price of a macaque of the previous generation.

  These significant investments are concomitant to a substantial decrease in the revenue and there is no guarantee on return.

  If the laboratories decide to take the responsibility of the expected investment, the purchase of one macaque would cost them approximately 10,000 Euros at a certain time, and this equates to three times more than the present price. It is highly improbable that the laboratories would support this venture.

  It is therefore highly unlikely that, without financial assistance, the breeders would commit themselves to a strategic venture which is so complex (the know-how of F2 macaque breeding is still very poor), so costly and uncertain. They would prefer to explore other markets.

  Moreover, big pharmaceuticals companies and research institutions have already embarked on a process of relocation outside the European Union and they have requested us to export our monkeys to these destinations. The revised EU directive would encourage the research centres to access these markets and more so as the regulations enforced on animal welfare and sourcing are much more flexible in these jurisdictions. These countries are numerous, both in Asia and in the USA.[23]

3.  OTHER SALIENT FEATURES

3.1  Genetics

  The production of F2 animals in Mauritius will not contribute anything in the genetic homogeneity, in as much as only very few animals were imported to the island from Indonesia, 400 years ago. Since then, nonhuman primates have not been imported from elsewhere and the Mauritian colony has not been exposed to other genetics mix. Therefore, its genetic variability is extremely low. This peculiarity coupled with the excellent health status of Mauritian macaques is not to be found in any other population of the same species and this is highly valued by researchers.

3.2  Conservation

  The existence of macaques in Mauritius has disastrous effects on the endemic fauna and flora and on agriculture (see enclosed report of Dr Greenwood, 2008). The only means for effective control over savage macaques is capturing them for breeding purposes. If these practices stopped, the government would have to find alternative ways to control the population of wild macaques. The production of F2 will not thus end the practice of capturing wild macaques in Mauritius.

  With regards to this aspect and the previous one, we are convinced that Mauritius should be considered as an exception.

3.3  Ethics and animal welfare

  Noveprim observes the highest standards of care for the welfare of animals. Its Ethics Committee complies with rigorous US norms and guarantees the welfare of animals in all protocols relating to the breeding processes.

  We invite your attention to the following negative impacts that shifting to F2 will have on animal welfare:

    — Keeping a higher population of animals in captivity for a longer period of time.

    — Euthanasia of the undesirable surplus male population while the F1 females are put in the breeding process. This will affect few thousands of animals per year in Mauritius.

4.  CONCLUSION

  We are of the opinion that the obligation of using F2 macaques in the new directive would inevitably have as primary consequence the de-location of the research institutions from the European Union, and relocation of same in countries where the law affords a greater flexibility. As a direct consequence, the main objective of animal welfare will be compromised.

  The logic behind the F2 project is to protect the species and genetic homogeneity, and yet, this is simply not applicable to Mauritius.

  From a scientific perspective the disparity that would occur in terms of research between the European Union and the rest of the world would be enormous.

  For the reasons given above, we are confident that the F2 project would not be unilaterally imposed upon the European research community.

  Kindly note that we are even prepared to discuss this subject with your experts and we will be pleased to provide additional information.

5 May, 2009

CONSERVATION AND THE LONG-TAILED MACAQUE IN MAURITIUS

BACKGROUND

  This report has been generated from my findings on a short study visit to Mauritius in July 2007. I was able to discuss the important aspects of both the conservation status of the Long-tailed macaque population in Mauritius, and the adverse effects that population may have on endemic Mauritian habitat and wildlife, with a range of stakeholders. These included two of the major primate breeding and export companies, colleagues at Mauritian Wildlife with whom I have worked on Mauritian fauna conservation for 14 years, officials of the Forestry Service and the National Parks and Conservation Service (NPCS) and their minister, the Minister for Agriculture.

INTRODUCTION

  Primates are not a part of the endemic Mauritian fauna. The sole representative found there is the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis), which was introduced by Portugese traders in the 16th or 17th century from its natural range in South East Asia. The range of the species, which is the most successful primate in that region, covers most of peninsular and insular SE Asia, from Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to Indochina. It is not found in mainland China per se. The species has been introduced deliberately to a number of other islands, including Papua, Palau and Hong Kong, with a view to establishing controlled populations as sources for research animals, but in none of these areas has it been as successful as in Mauritius. In Papua, however, although the population is only about 60 animals it is already regarded as a severe invasive threat to biodiversity.

  The IUCN conservation status of its various named subspecies, with one exception, is Low Risk/Near Threatened and the CITES listing is Appendix II. There is no clear estimate of the world population, but Malaysia alone claims a population of 740,000 animals. The world total is likely to be in excess of 2 million. The main conservation threat to the species in its native range is probably habitat destruction for biofuels. Most host countries afford it some degree of protection but Malaysia has recently lifted a ban on capture and export.

BIOLOGY

  The long-tailed macaque is an arboreal, largely frugivorous, monkey living in varying sized groups, depending on habitat. Diet also may depend to some extent on habitat, with crabs and other sea creatures being more important in mangrove forests. Habitat includes almost any kind of available forest, and the monkey does well in degraded plantation regrowth from where it can forage on agricultural crops, to which it is an important source of damage throughout its range. Macaque populations are capable of high reproductive rates when not at full carrying capacity, with rates of 0.1 to 0.9 young per fertile female per year being recorded in M.fascicularis.

MAURITIUS POPULATION

  There have been two historical estimates of the Mauritian population of the long- tailed macaque, one in 1986 and another in 1994, and both arrived at similar estimates of 25-35,000 and 40,000 respectively. These were arrived at by establishing home range and troop size, or by estimating the density in one area of habitat and then multiplying up by the available habitat on the island. There is no evidence that either the population or the available habitat have changed substantially in the last 20 years, and guestimates offered to me by the two major trapping companies agreed with a stable population of around 40-50,000 animals. Trapping activity by these two companies has persisted since 1985 and 1990 and both reported a consistently sustainable take, based on the sex and age distribution over limited areas of land. Current annual removal rates are estimated to be around 12%. It is likely that the population remains at or near maximum carrying capacity for the available forest areas, although there are signs that secondary forest regrowth is increasing and this might accelerate with gradual withdrawal of sugar cane production from more marginal land. Current available monkey habitat covers about 20% of the island's land area.

  There is a captive population of 18-20,000 animals spread between the three main breeding farms, all of which derive from the original feral population and subsequent captive reproduction.

  Genetic studies of the Mauritian population suggest a limited founder population and a lack of genetic variability in areas such as the MHC complex, which actually increases the attractiveness of the animals for research. There is no indication that genetic homogeneity is adversely affecting the population.

  A very similar situation obtains with the vervet monkey (Chiorocebus aethiops sabacus) on the Caribbean island of St Kitts, although the captive population is much smaller and some 5000 animals a year are harvested from a population estimated, similarly, at 40-50,000.

CAPTIVE COLONIES ON MAURITIUS

  The long-tailed macaque has been harvested and bred in captivity on Mauritius in a controlled way since 1985 to supply the laboratory animal market in Europe, Japan and the USA. There are three main suppliers with colonies of 6,800, 2,500, and 9,000 animals, and a fourth trapping organisation has recently been licensed. The market was originally supplied with wild-caught animals, but now there is little demand for these (they cannot be supplied into the UK, for example) and the vast majority of exported animals are captive-bred on Mauritius. Feral animal capture is now limited to the requirement for breeding replacements and for urgent pest control when requested. The annual take of females is about 4,000 between the three companies and none of these is exported. This provides for an approximate 10% replacement rate of breeders plus expansion, helped by a further 10% of captive-bred females which are retained annually. Males, of course, are caught as well in about a 60:40 ratio, but few of these are required for breeding replacements as the usual colony group ratio is 2-3 males to 30-45 females. One company still exports about 1,000 captured males per year, although this is a declining trade. Mother culls very young or old males, and keeps or releases the rest. One company felt that they were at maximum trapping effort, as many areas of degraded forest are too dense for trapping, and animals become trap shy.

  Total annual take is around 6,000 animals. This is probably sustainable at the higher level of population estimates, and one company did suggest that the average age of trapped animals was decreasing slightly, which might suggest either that the population was growing, or that older animals were gradually being trapped out. General indications are that the population is stable or possibly still increasing as new habitat becomes available, but accurate information is badly needed. Animals are trapped in relatively local areas, and results may not reflect the island-wide situation. Trapping success is affected by season and particularly by cyclones.

  Worldwide demand for this species is about 50,000 animals per year (although it was estimated at 100-200,000 in 2001), with a particularly high demand for two-year-old animals of even sex ratio. Mauritius currently supplies 8-10,000 of this trade from captive-bred stock and Mauritian animals command a premium because of their natural freedom from most major primate viruses. There is a 20% price premium for captive-bred over feral animals. The remainder of the world demand is supplied from South-East Asia (see below).

TRADE ELSEWHERE

   The other major trade source of long-tailed macaques is China. Some animals are bred in colonies established from wild stock by the Chinese in range states, such as Cambodia and Vietnam, but there are reportedly many wild caught animals going directly into the trade, and China holds some 47,000 animals in breeding colonies which have originated from outside China. There is also a possibility of Malaysia reentering the trade with wild-caught animals. The level of take in the natural range is completely unknown, and no attempt has been made to assess its sustainability.

CONSERVATION OF THE LONG-TAILED MACAQUE IN MAURITIUS

  There is no evidence that the Mauritian population is in decline, nor does it appear to suffer numerically from the current rate of trapping. In the future, unless the trade is adversely affected by external factors, this is unlikely to change, although there may be occasional higher pressure if, for example, new licencees attempt to build up new colonies. If anything, trapping rates will probably fall as the demand for wild-caught monkeys continues to fall, and captive-bred output continues to increase. Government, conservation and agricultural interests are currently more concerned about the effects of any possible increase than decrease in monkeys. Consequently, there is an urgent need to establish studies into the population size, biology and behaviour of the monkeys on the island. This would allow the development of a management plan agreeable to all parties.

  In worldwide terms, the conservation of the Mauritius population is not currently of any importance, although it may become so if the Asian population is devastated for any reason. The Mauritian population does not have established sub-specific status, and derives from a low founder base.

 ADVERSE EFFECTS OF MONKEYS IN MAURITIUS

Agriculture and the public.

   The scale of agricultural damage by monkeys on Mauritius is considerable, and is likely to increase as more small to medium scale fruit and vegetable production begins to replace sugar cane plantations. Sugar cane damage has been estimated at £1-2 million (10-20 million rupees) a year, and on some estate plots can reach 1 million rupees alone. Much of the damage is caused by large troops of monkeys uprooting and damaging young sugar plants, as well as by actual consumption. This is largely confined to the edge of plots but, as the cane fields currently extend right to the edge of existing woodland, this can be considerable. Small-scale production is almost impossible because of monkey damage, and whole small farms have been destroyed overnight in some cases. In these cases there is concern that small farmers will regard the neighbouring forest as a haven for monkeys and seek to cut it back from their property.

  Even more attractive to the monkeys are fruit and vegetable plots and, in this case, whole plots are regularly destroyed, again with far more damage than consumption. Although the monkey has not yet become an urban pest species as it is in parts of Asia, suburban plots and gardens can be hard hit, and the government traps and destroys a number of monkeys following suburban complaints. Raids always increase in the dry season (July-September) and this is also the only period when trapping to eliminate damage is effective, otherwise the monkeys just have too much food available to risk entering a trap. Although there is no direct reporting or compensation scheme in place which might allow monkey damage to be quantified, industry estimates are probably quite accurate. As the breeding and export companies are partly owned by big sugar estates, the response to trapping in terms of damage reduction could probably be determined quite easily. More data are clearly needed.

  Direct public injury by the monkeys, unlike in Asia, is rare in Mauritius but anecdotally increasing, especially as government has successfully encouraged wider visitor access to protected forest areas where monkeys flourish, and where public rest and picnic sites have been established.

 Environment and native species

  Plants—the indigenous plant population of Mauritius includes many extremely rare endemic species of tree and others which are critical to the re-establishment and renovation of native forest, which currently occupies 1% of its original range on the island. Much of the existing native forest is heavily degraded by overgrowth of invasive alien species. Attempts are being made to restore forest by weeding out aliens from managed plots, thereby allowing native tree regeneration. There are seven mainland protected plots, covering 200 ha which are fenced to keep out deer and feral pigs, but monkey-proof fences are prohibitively expensive.

  Monkeys damage the forest in several ways: by uprooting seedlings, by wastefully damaging and eating the fruit of native trees before it is ripe enough for the seeds to germinate (unlike trees in native primate habitat Mauritian endemic trees have not evolved defence mechanisms against monkeys), by breaking branches of mature trees and uprooting seedlings, and by spreading the seeds of invasive shrubs (such as Guava) through their faeces.

  Wildlife—Mauritius is home to some extremely endangered and iconic bird species, as well as important reptiles, and these birds are the subject of intensive restoration projects. The birds are intensively monitored, especially during their breeding season, so incidents of monkey damage are recorded quite frequently, and some experimental work has been done. There is no quantification of the damage, and other alien species are also involved (rats, mynah birds), but monkeys certainly damage the nests and take the eggs and nestlings of Pink pigeons, passerines and even Echo parakeets.

  Experimental work has shown that the feral monkeys show egg-orientation, and this is not seen in captive animals. It appears therefore to be a learned cultural behaviour in Mauritius.

  While the kestrel and the parakeet are not at such risk, as the kestrel can defend its nest and the parakeet nests are largely protected against climbers, the pigeon and the small passerines are extremely vulnerable and there are many field records of observed predation, and many others where the signs indicate monkey predation. The damage to pigeons, in particular, includes tail feather loss in adults, removal of eggs and squabs, causing of nest desertion by general harassment, and stealing from feeding hoppers. Passerines, such as Mauritius fodies, suffer complete nest destruction and have been driven to nesting in non-native Japanese cedar trees which monkeys find hard to climb.

  Any conservation efforts towards the exclusion or reduction of non-indigenous competing birds is likely to make the situation worse. In the National Park Bioculture, which has the trapping concession, is usually requested to trap out small areas where reintroductions or translocations are taking place, but with the smaller passerines mammal predation pressure is so high that all current releases have to take place on rat/monkey free off-shore islands.

Conservation benefits of the monkey trade

  The government has established an "export tax" on the industry of 75US$ per animal, and this was seen from the very beginning as a hypothecated tax. A committee within the Department of Agriculture oversees the distribution of this money, which is paid into the National Parks and Conservation Service Conservation Fund at the current rate of around 600,000$ per year, being additional to NPCS core funding. NPCS uses the money towards its species and habitat work, and also funds some aspects of the work of Mauritian Wildlife Foundation. Unfortunately, unused money from the find is returned to the Treasury on an annual basis for general government spending. Any reduction in NPCS core funding or activities such that it cannot fully use the available funds may lead to serious amounts of conservation money being lost.

  The major monkey supply companies also do conservation work, led by Bioculture which funds extensive field conservation and habitat preservation in both Mauritius and Madagascar directly from monkey-related profit

  The degree to which monkey harvesting at its present scale assists conservation of Mauritian indigenous wildlife is very hard to quantify, but all interested parties are agreed that the process is at least keeping the monkey population from outgrowing the available resources and is thereby preventing an explosion of competition in the forest. Targeted harvesting, along with other predator control methods, is certainly beneficial in the short term to allow newly created satellite populations of reintroduced birds to become established.

CONCLUSIONS

  There is no evidence that the monkey trade, insofar as it involves harvesting of wild macaques on Mauritius, materially affects the conservation status of the long-tailed macaque, either worldwide or locally. The local population has no conservation value to the species as a whole and is indeed an introduced alien, which in many situations would be a target for eradication. In the absence of any direct population survey data, trapping data have to be relied upon. These in general indicate at least a stable population over a considerable period of trapping effort.

  There is no desire in Mauritius to eradicate the monkeys. They are seen as an established part of the fauna and are important to the predominant Hindu religion. The export trade for medical research seems to be generally accepted as beneficial for the economy and for mankind in general. On the other hand, there is clear and substantial conservation and agricultural damage from the monkeys, so there will always be pressure if not to reduce their numbers then at least to prevent them increasing. There is also an increasing but as yet limited risk of negative public interaction with monkeys as people venture more into the forest for recreation.

  There are many and complex competing issues involving the long-tailed macaque on Mauritius and, in my view, all of these could be in some way clarified, if not solved, by a proper population survey of the species, as well as by direct research to quantify the plant and wildlife damage it causes. This should be a priority for government, the wildlife organisations and, above all, the industry. But the harvesting of monkeys for breeding and export is not a conservation issue per se.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  For organising my visit and arranging meetings, as well as for direct input on the conservation issues, Vikash Tatayah and colleagues at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.

  For information on monkey damage to plants and animals Jason Maiham and the MWAF Echo parakeet field team, the MWAF Pink Pigeon field team, and Mr V Tezoo, acting Conservator of Forests. Mr. Puttoo, Head of NPCS explained much of the background to the protected area problems.

  Mrs Begun, Minister of Agriculture, and Carl Jones, Scientific Director of MWAF, kindly provided more general background and historical information.

  For hosting me at their farms and explaining the complete picture of the monkey trapping and export processes, and for providing numerical data from their records, Owen Griffiths and Mary Ann Stanley of Bioculture and Bruno Julienne and Noelle Garnege of Novoprim.

  Finally, for initiating the study and financing the visit, Professor Tim Morris and GlaxoSmithKline.

RECOMMENDED READING

  Bertram B 1994. Monkeys in Mauritius: potential for humane control. Commissioned report to RSPCA.

  Cawthon Lang K A 2006. Primate Factsheets: Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). Taxonomy, morphology and ecology: http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/long-tailedmacaque.

  Cheke A S 1987. An ecological history of the Mascarene Islands with particular reference to extinctions and introductions of land vertebrates. In Studies of Mascarene Island Birds. Ed A W Diamond, CUP.

  Ervin F and Palmer R 2003. Primates for 2Pt century biomedicine: the St Kitts vervet (Chlorocebus aethiops). In International Perspectives: the Future of Non-Human Primate Resources. ILAR, National Academies Press, pp 49-53.

  Kemp N J & Burnett J B 2003. Final Report: a biodiversity assessment and recommendations for risk management of Long-tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in New Guinea. Indo-Pacific Conservation Alliance, Washington DC.

  Kondo M et al 1993. Population genetics of crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) on the island of Mauritius. Amer J Primatology. 29:167-182.

  Mungroo Y & Tezoo V 1999. Control of Invasive Species in Mauritius. In Invasive Species in Eastern Africa: Proceedings of a Workshop held at ICIPE, eds. E E Lyons & S E Miller.

  Staford R J 1991. Status and ecology of the Mauritius fody Foudia rubra and Mauritius olive white-eye Zosterops chloronothos: two Mauritian passerines in danger. Dodo 27:113-139.

  Stanley M A 2003. The breeding of naturally occurring B virus-free cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) on the island of Mauritius. In International Perspectives: the Future of Non-Human Primate Resources. ILAR, National Academies Press, pp 46-48.

  Sussman R W & Tattersall I 1986. Distribution, abundance and putative ecological strategy of Macaca fascicularis on the island of Mauritius, southwestern Indian Ocean. Folia Primatologia 46: 28-43.

March 2008




23   European demand for macaques in research is estimated to be less than 15% of the worldwide demand. Back


 
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