Stop Trapping Silver River Monkeys!
For the first time in 15 years, wild rhesus monkeys of North Central Florida’s Silver River area may not be trapped. Since 1998, one trapper, Scott Cheslak of Beaufort, South Carolina, has trapped and removed 800 monkeys and sold them to laboratories to be used in experiments. An open records request filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund revealed that Cheslak sold the monkeys to a research facility without possessing the license required under the Animal Welfare Act. The Florida Park Service confirmed that Cheslak does not currently have a state permit to trap and remove monkeys at Silver River State Park.
The monkeys have lived along the banks of the Silver River for over 70 years, and were introduced into the area by a tour boat operator in the 1930s. Although the monkeys live a peaceful existence, the State of Florida considers them to be "nonnative" and allows trapping to manage the monkey population. Clearly, there are better, more humane ways to manage populations without tearing them apart from their families and forest homes to be exploited in laboratory tests.
ALDF and the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida urge the Florida Park Service to consider nonlethal alternatives to the trapping and removal of monkeys, such as sterilization and return to the environment. Otherwise, these sensitive and intelligent animals, once wild and free, will end their lives in the isolation of a laboratory.
It is time to stop the trapping of wild monkeys. They may not be trapped this year, but their reprieve is only temporary unless we find more humane solutions.
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| (Photo by Ann Hamilton) |
Take Action
Sign the petition to the Florida Park Service and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to demand an end to the trapping of monkeys for the research industry at Silver River State Park and other state lands. Alternate methods should be implemented immediately.
Do More
Contact these agencies directly to show your individual support for the Silver River monkeys. A sample letter is provided below, but it is far more effective if you use your own words.
I am writing to ask you to immediately stop the trapping of wild monkeys on state lands along the Silver River in North Central Florida. The monkeys are being sold to testing facilities, where they will undoubtedly suffer. The Silver River State Park should be known for its natural beauty and outdoor activities, NOT as a supplier of animals for laboratory exploitation. These wild monkeys deserve to live free from confinement and abuse.
Address your comments to:
Donald Forgione
Director
Florida Park Service
Email: Donald.Forgione@dep.state.fl.us
Herschel T. Vinyard, Jr.
Secretary
Department of Environmental Protection online comment form.
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Signed and shared!
I don't understand why people are so damn cruel. If animals could speak this would be a very different world. We need to be their voice and protect them
Signed and emailed!
Committing monkeys, or any other animal to the horrible, inhumane fate of life in a testing lab is nothing short of evil!! Laws protecting all animals from this fate should be instated worldwide! Moreover, individuals who are trapping and selling monkeys and other animals without any permit or license should be imprisoned, or perhaps, sent to testing labs to live out their lives!!
Perhaps instead of taking innocent wild monkeys from their homes to be subjected to the hideous fate that all lab animals face, Scott could donate himself in their place. Just sayin".
The Nation Institutes Of Health has just determined that using chimpanzees in research is unnecessary and unproductive. Perhaps the other laboratories using primates should take a look at their results and evaluate the validity of using primates, as well.
Hi--Believe it or not I stumbled across this story & its cruel irony reviewing some 1920s travel brochures on Silver Springs. 1st off--they verify the origin: Tooey's Jungle Cruise introduced the monkeys as a tourist attraction: "See the monkeys performing in the trees on Monkey Island, an added attraction to the Jungle Cruise"--another brochure has an actual photograph of cruise boatman feeding one. So even though the attraction was a failure in confining the monkeys & they became truly wild--they were adored & cared for--sort of reminds you of Jurassic Park--nature finds a way. All of a sudden--fish & game decides to partner with lab testing, and monkeys who did no wrong, never chose to be invasive yet have a proper environment to live a peaceful secluded life, are rousted like so many other natives, like the Seminoles--but instead of zoo relocation, they are subject to the cruel horrors of animal testing labs. SHAME to FLORIDA for not addressing the issue with compassion & care: "Disclosure of where the monkeys are taken is not a condition of the permits"?? (Dept of Enviro Protection, 2012)--WHY NOT?? Abducted & sold into bondage for torture. You know Cheslak the monkey hunter made some nice coin, also probably sold off many to bigger bucks in the exotic pet trade.--WHY WERE they NOT a PROTECTED SPECIES. In their native Asian lands--this would be POACHING. Man's Inhumanity to Everything rears again (in the name of hygiene)--there is certainly a better, more humane way to manage what is now an indigenous tribe.