As well as enduring appalling conditions, the monkeys at Covance were also subjected to a daily routine of painful and distressing procedures during which they were roughly handled, tightly restrained, force-fed and injected with substances in toxicity trials and immobilised in plastic stocks known as 'primate chairs'. Day after day their lives were a catalogue of suffering. Here are just some of the horrors these poor animals had to live through:

oral gavage

guidelines state that forced oral tube feeding is the most stressful method of administration; it can cause inflammation or ulceration in the throat or stomach, accidentally penetrate the throat or stomach leading to internal infection or enter the lung by mistake. For this procedure the monkeys were gripped tightly across a technician's raised knee, their arms forcibly wrenched behind their back. The mouth was prised open by the technician's fingers and a long rubber tube forced down the throat so that the test substance could be pumped into the stomach. Many monkeys struggled to be free, spitting out the tube, pushing the researcher's arm away with their leg, clamping their mouths shut as long as they could, trying desperately to resist what they knew was coming. In an effort to open their mouths, sometimes the technicians would hold the monkeys' nose to stop them breathing, push their face against the metal bars of the cage or force the tube through a gap in the teeth. The BUAV investigator also witnessed technicians using their fist on the bottom row of teeth or shaking the monkey's head. Some staff did not appear to verify that the oral gavage tube was correctly inserted, risking the life of the monkeys. Our investigator was told that one monkey had died from a 'blow-out', when the tube went into the animal's lung rather than the stomach.

blood sampling

BUAV evidence clearly shows that some staff had problems taking blood samples from both adult and infant monkeys and on occasions needles were inserted over and over again into one or both arms. Blood sampling could become a lengthy and distressing ordeal for the monkeys who can be seen screaming and struggling; some monkeys were left with bloody wounds.

infusion studies

monkeys were forcibly restrained in primate 'chairs' and experimental compounds injected directly into their bloodstream. One or both arms were tied and both legs were splayed and bound. Their heads were held in a plastic stock. Totally immobilised and utterly vulnerable, many animals can be seen on the BUAV's undercover footage desperately struggling to escape. Each monkey endured this treatment for up to half an hour at a time, the length of a single infusion. Even pregnant females were subjected to this ordeal, used in these infusion tests for reproductive toxicity so that observations could be made of any poisoning effects on their babies.

spinal fluid sampling (CSF)

anaesthetised monkeys were stretched across a crude wire rack and their hands bound with string. A needle was used to puncture a hole from which to extract spinal fluid. On at least one occasion still unconscious monkeys who had been subjected to this painful procedure were simply dumped back into their cage to 'recover' on the bare metal floor.

sperm fluid sampling

the monkeys were anaesthetised and held face down on a table. They were given an electric shock (via an electrode placed in their anus) to force an erection, and manipulated to ejaculation by a staff member who collected the sperm. On one occasion (as seen on the BUAV's video) an animal technician mocks one of the unconscious monkeys during the process, pointing at him and laughing even in the company of more senior researchers who make no attempt to reprimand the technician, indicating that mocking the animals in this way is tolerated.

maternal milk sampling

the female monkeys were starved of food for 12 hours prior to their milk being taken. The mother was forcibly separated from her infant for a number of hours; this kind of separation would be highly stressful for both mother and baby. The infant was put into a small cage with a paint roller as a mother substitute for the baby to cling on to for comfort.

internal examination

the monkeys were anaesthetised with ketamine and an optical fibre lens inserted through an abdominal incision for internal examination whilst the monkey was dangled upside down by the feet. On the BUAV video a group of anaesthetised monkeys can be seen lined up on a work surface, like a production line of animals waiting to be used. On one occasion a monkey is clearly not fully anaesthetised, necessitating a further dose of ketamine. Despite the researcher waiting for a short while, it is still questionable whether the monkey is fully anaesthetised during the procedure. It would appear that no pain relief was given to the animals at the end of this procedure, only an antiseptic spray applied to the wound, despite their abdomens being visibly sore (red and bruised).

vaginal smears

a smear was taken every morning for all female monkeys. A cotton bud (or similar) was inserted into the vagina to check for signs of blood. According to our investigator, some of the technicians behaved roughly with the females, leading one technician to say to a colleague "You have to do smears, not rape them".

post-operative 'care'

EU Directive 86/609 clearly states that "There should be facilities for post-operative recovery where this is warranted." It clearly was warranted at Covance. However, at Covance (Germany), following anaesthetic and on occasions surgery such as the extraction of spinal fluid, animals were simply returned to their cages and left to recover on the metal bars. The disorientated monkeys coming round from the effects of ketamine often endured salivating and vomiting and yet there appeared to be little or no effective post-anaesthetic monitoring. Unconscious and semi-conscious monkeys can be seen on our video, clearly at risk of hurting themselves. We filmed two monkeys actually collapsing, falling hard against the cage floor and one hitting her head on the metal bars. Even these obviously vulnerable animals were given no warm bedding or padding whatsoever to prevent injuries.

killing

monkeys were sedated and then exsanguinated (bled to death) by making cuts in the major arteries of the neck and legs and holding the monkeys up to allow the blood to flow out of their limp bodies. The dead monkeys were then dissected and major organs removed to analyse the effects of the test substances. Body parts, including severed heads, were stored in the freezer before the mutilated bodies were disposed of like rubbish.