The Humane and Existing Alternatives in Research and Testing Sciences (HEARTS) Act, introduced in February, will help “ensure that non-animal methods are prioritized, where applicable and feasible, in proposals for all research to be conducted or supported by the National Institutes of Health.” The bill states what AAVS and many other advocates have long believed, that animal welfare “oversight is generally weak and little heed is paid to the use of non-animal methods or the avoidance of duplication, thereby unnecessarily subjecting animals to pain, suffering, and death.”

Having no voice, animals need and deserve protection from the industries that use and exploit them, and it’s the job of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to protect their welfare. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) requires USDA to inspect animal dealers, breeders, exhibitions, and laboratories to help assure that animals are provided minimal standards of care and treatment. Despite the law, however, USDA has indicated a willingness to skirt on its responsibility to protect animal welfare by adopting a system that would permit third parties to perform inspections, which could be used to reduce oversight by the USDA.

After several years of making animal welfare reports and legal documents available on its website, in February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) blocked the public, animal groups like AAVS, and the media from having access to nearly all information related to the welfare of animals at laboratories, dealers, carriers, breeders, and exhibitors from its website. Gradually, some info has been restored, and most recently, the searchable database has been enabled. However, this reservoir of information continues to have notable omissions and inconsistencies, raising questions about whether information on facilities is complete. It also shows a lack of transparency on the part of USDA.

Last year, Mauritius exported over 4,000 macaques to the U.S., over 50 percent more than in 2013. By far, the majority of monkeys were shipped to laboratories like Primate Products, which imported 1,000 macaques alone. Additionally, two shipments of macaques coming from Mauritius last year were named in violations involving charges of inhumane shipment under the Lacey Act and violations of endangered species law.

Please help stop the exportation of primates from Mauritius!

During the 1950s and 1960s, University of Wisconsin researcher Harry Harlow conducted his maternal deprivation experiments, in which newborn monkeys were taken from their mothers and forced to live in total isolation, causing severe psychosis. Earlier this year, an experiment that recalls those dark days was approved by the University’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) as a way to study anxiety in humans.

Animal advocates have been successful in international efforts to convince every major passenger airline to stop its transport of primates for research, except for one: Air France.