To the Editor:

Melanie Sferrazza’s March 10 opinion piece “Primate testing ignores species’ intellect” exposes the cruelty and needless suffering that over 5,000 monkeys at the Tulane National Primate Research Center currently endure.

Imprisoned alone in barren, stainless steel cages, monkeys often rock and spin incessantly and even pull out of their own hair and bite and tear at their skin and limbs. They are driven insane by boredom, loneliness and fear.  Many times, monkeys only ever leave these cramped cages when they are taken to be experimented on. In one recent experiment at Tulane, monkeys were infected with a virus, repeatedly injected with THC and later killed and dissected.

In 2012, a monkey at Tulane died after being left alone in a university van for nearly an entire day, and over the past decade, the Tulane National Primate Research Center has paid thousands of dollars in fines for Animal Welfare Act violations, including allowing the escape of dozens of monkeys from their enclosures and the death of 13 baboons after a failed attempt to move the animals.

Monkeys and other animals suffer horribly at Tulane and elsewhere. To find out how you can help visit www.peta.org.

Mitch Goldsmith, M.A.

Research Associate

Laboratory Investigations Department

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals