Aside from subjecting monkeys to distressing and painful procedures, the conditions themselves in any laboratory will always constitute a severe compromise of their welfare. Yet what little 'protection' there is in EU legislation (Directive 86/609) is weak and inadequately enforced.

However, the BUAV's evidence clearly shows that here at Covance, even this weak legislation was being routinely breached. The preamble to the legislation states:

"...that such animals are adequately cared for, that no pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm are inflicted unnecessarily and ensure that, where unavoidable, these shall be kept to the minimum."
In particular Article 5(a) states:

"all experimental animals shall be provided with housing, an environment, at least some freedom of movement, food, water and care which are appropriate to their health and well-being."
And Article 5(b) states:

"any restriction, on the extent to which an experimental animal can satisfy its physiological and ethological needs, shall be limited to the absolute minimum."
(EU Directive 86/609)
The BUAV believes that Covance is breaking the law and we intend to press for legal action against the company. The company, however, is even ignoring what is considered to be 'best practice' within the industry. UFAW (The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, 'The Care & Management of Laboratory Animals, Ch 39) states:

"All primate species are very active, and are either arboreal or semi-terrestrial. They are also intelligent social animals, so that they find close confinement in barren surroundings highly stressful."
(P. 613)
In the world of vivisection, Covance promotes itself to its international clients as a modern, professional, law-abiding operation. The truth of course is that experimenting on animals will always be a dirty trade in suffering and death, and contract labs care about profit margins far more than animal welfare. But when we compare the BUAV's evidence to a report recently commissioned and adopted by the EU Commission, it is easy to see just how deprived lab monkeys in general, and Covance's monkeys in particular, really are.

13.3 "Most primates are highly social & intelligent animals & their cognitive skills have been shaped by evolution to find & handle food, & to relate to other individuals in a social group. Having social partners is one of the most significant needs of primates & they develop abnormal behaviour patterns when socially deprived."
13.4 "Primates need an enriched & stimulus-enhanced environment in captivity to explore, manipulate, play, forage & search for food; merely satisfying minimum space requirements is inadequate..."
13.8 "When primates cannot express their normal behaviour & satisfy their needs to show certain behaviours, either because of a lack of environmental diversity, or an insufficient amount of space, they develop abnormal behaviour patterns (e.g. stereotypies)..."
13.9 "Since primates are usually social animals, single housing is always detrimental to their welfare..."
(Source: The welfare of non-human primates used in research', An European Commission Report of the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare. Adopted by the EU Commission on 17 December 2002)