Newcastle Uni monkey torture blasted by High Council

“Unethical” research methods that involved macaque monkeys at Newcastle University have been slammed by German licensing authorities.

Behavioural experiments at Newcastle University involved opening the brains of macaques and “severely depriving” the animals of water to make them co-operate when set tasks.

Mr Justice Parker said: “The licences provided for monkeys’ brains to be opened under general anaesthetic and for permanent surgical devices to be implanted into their skulls, brains and eyes to permit their heads to be immobilised when they were awake.”

The researcher, from Newcastle University, had an application rejected to conduct further research in Germany based on the cruel and torturous methodology.

Berlin licensing authorities refused the Newcastle researcher’s application to conduct similar experiments in Germany after concluding the monkeys involved would “suffer considerably”. It was concluded that the animals would be left so malnourished and thirsty it would be “unethical to extract the desired findings” from the primates.

Macaque monkey

The monkeys were starved of water until they had to co-operate with the experiment so they survived. The judge whom rejected the appeal for further research explained the monkey’s were “restrained in chairs and by the head for up to nine hours per session and required to comply with behavioural experiments” that apparently continued every week day.

The judge said fluid intake was further reduced if they did not co-operate. The animals were allowed a period of free access to water of more than a weekend only three times a year.

The researchers stated in the licence applications that the monkeys would not be “distressed” and they “simply would not co-operate if they were distressed or in pain.”

Rejecting similar licences, the Berlin licensing authorities said the macaques would “suffer considerably” as they surrendered to immobilisation “time and again” in order to satisfy the need to quench their thirst.

“The animal learns that is has no alternative to achieving this goal. In order to avoid a life-threatening suffering (thirst) the animal has to endure another considerable suffering (being immobilised in the primate chair)

“It is furthermore to be assumed that the animals, on account of their cognitive level, are aware of their hopeless situation and suffer considerably from this stress.”