PETA Praises Glorimari Jaime Rodríguez for Preventing Bioculture From Imprisoning, Breeding, and Selling Monkeys for Deadly Experiments
For Immediate Release:
February 28, 2011
Contact:
Robbyn Brooks 757-622-7382
San Juan, Puerto Rico — When Guayama Mayor Glorimari Jaime Rodríguez enacted two landmark ordinances banning the import, export, breeding, and use of monkeys in experiments within the municipality of Guayama, she effectively shut down Bioculture Puerto Rico, Inc.'s plans to capture more than 4,000 monkeys from Mauritius, cruelly confine them to cages and force them to breed in Guayama, and then sell their offspring to foreign laboratories for use in painful and deadly experiments. For her efforts, Mayor Rodríguez will receive a Compassionate Action Award from PETA.
"Mayor Rodríguez knows that Bioculture's plans would have been disastrous for her community and for the animals," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "Thanks to her, there appears to be no legal way for Bioculture to tear monkeys away from their homes in the wild, breed them in Guayama, and sell their babies to laboratories for cruel tests."
In addition to the Guayama laws, last year, Puerto Rico's Senate approved a resolution sponsored by Sen. Melinda Romero Donnelly that urged U.S. agencies to "deny [Bioculture] any and all permit requests to import [monkeys] into Puerto Rico."
For more information or to view Mayor Rodríguez's award, please visit PETA.org.