Monkey destined for research found dead in crate at Mirabel airport, sparking outrage from animal-protection advocates

Montreal Gazette

12 hours ago

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Animal protection advocates are again sounding the alarm about Canada's involvement in the controversial and lucrative research monkey trade, after they learned a long-tailed macaque was found dead on arrival at Montréal-Mirabel International Airport last summer after a very long, hot flight from Cambodia.
The groups say the death highlights the inherent risk and cruelty involved in transporting endangered primates thousands of kilometres for use in Canadian research.
According to a pathology report obtained by the Animal Alliance of Canada through an access-to-information request, the suspected cause of death was 'functional cardiac disease (i.e. arrhythmia) indicative of an acute process.' The monkey also had 'bilateral epistaxis,' which means blood coming from both nostrils.
'There were records provided showing the animals were fed and watered, but they were in temperatures that at one point spiked to 48 degrees Celsius,' said Bianca Del Bois, director of development and communications for the Animal Protection Party of Canada.
The Animal Alliance of Canada waited almost a year for a response to its Aug. 13, 2024, access-to-information request to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The CFIA is responsible for regulating the importation of animals into Canada to prevent the introduction and spread of diseases that have the potential to negatively affect the health of humans and animals in Canada.
The group asked about flights on April 11, June 5 and Aug. 10, 2024, each carrying dozens of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia to Montreal for research.
On July 30, 2025, the group received a heavily redacted report from CFIA that confirmed that one adult male monkey was found dead on arrival in a transport crate at Mirabel on Aug. 10, 2024, after a 48-hour journey from Phnom Penh to Montreal, via Tbilisi, Georgia. The groups say a 27-hour delay in Tbilisi was because the importer, Charles River Laboratories, and the air carrier, SkyTaxi, did not have the proper permit to land in Canada.
Del Bois said the documents revealed the importing facility's pathologist did the necrology and inspection on the dead animal, not the CFIA.
'The CFIA didn't actually even attend the examination of the monkey that passed away. But the CFIA accepted the fact that the importer's report said there was no evidence that the transportation (conditions) had anything to do with the injuries of this monkey. The CFIA concluded there was no transport violation and that the IATA (International Air Transport Association) and animal health regulations were met, despite this monkey dying.'
But the groups say it's not only the welfare of the animals at stake. In June, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released a report exposing what it called 'an escalating biosecurity and regulatory crisis.' The report showed that tuberculosis — including multiple zoonotic strains, which can be transmitted from animals to humans — was entering and spreading in the U.S. via imported monkeys destined for use in experimentation. The report outlines systemic failures in tuberculosis screening, quarantine, containment and disclosure.
Lisa Jones-Engel, senior science adviser for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Jennifer Draiss, Research and Campaign Coordinator for PETA, wrote to the Canadian government in June to raise their 'urgent concerns about the cross-border risks posed by tuberculosis (TB) in nonhuman primates imported by Charles River Laboratories.'
Charles River Laboratories is a research and drug development company and one of the largest monkey importers in the world. The company is based in Wilmington, Mass., but has several facilities in the Montreal region, including a 530,000-square-foot preclinical facility in Senneville, on the western tip of Montreal Island.
'The company continues to import monkeys into Canada despite being linked to multiple TB outbreaks in the United States,' Jones-Engel and Draiss wrote.
A spokesperson for Charles River Laboratories said the company's facilities comply with all local and federal health and environmental requirements.
'No member of the public has ever contracted a zoonotic disease from a Charles River designed and managed facility,' said Amy Cianciaruso, the company's chief communications officer. 'Quarantine facilities are licensed and permitted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Prior to issuing permits, the CDC conducts a thorough and complete inspection of the site and reviews and approves all procedures and processes conducted onsite. After becoming a CDC-approved site, there is a biannual permit-renewal process as well as annual visits to maintain permits. In addition, the CDC can conduct inspections at any time.'
'We will continue to work to protect the health and well-being of the animals in our care, our employees, and the communities in which we work, all in support of the discovery and development of innovative new patient therapies and treatments for cancer, diabetes and a myriad of rare diseases.'
While most of the TB-infected monkeys imported into the U.S. are indeed detected during CDC-mandated quarantining, some infected animals have passed quarantine and were transferred to other facilities, where TB was later detected, PETA representatives said.
'In Michigan, monkeys that cleared the CDC-mandated quarantine and over a dozen follow-up TB screening tests were later confirmed via necropsy to have widespread TB infections. Two laboratory workers tested positive after exposure to the infected monkeys,' the report says.
The letter writers urged the Canadian government to review all primate imports, 'especially those linked to Charles River Laboratories, and to coordinate with U.S. regulatory counterparts to mitigate further cross-border risks.'
In a response to that letter from PETA obtained by The Gazette, Dr. Parthi Muthukumarasamy, executive director of the International Programs Directorate at the CFIA, wrote: 'To enter Canada, all NHPs (nonhuman primates) must meet strict import requirements detailed in the import policy. … These requirements include pre-import and post-import testing for TB in NHPs.'
He noted bovine TB is a reportable disease in Canada, so owners, veterinarians and laboratories must report suspected cases to the veterinary inspector of the CFIA.
'It is important to note that the NHPs imported into Canada for research purposes are kept in a controlled/restricted environment with high biosecurity standards as per the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) guidelines. People working with NHPs are also required to wear adequate protective personal equipment (PPE) and follow the precautionary measures outlined in the World Organization of Animal Health's Terrestrial Animal Health Code. … The CFIA has controls in place to address risks associated with TB in imported NHPs.'
Jones-Engel called this response 'dangerously inadequate.'
'By deflecting to existing policies and claiming 'controls are in place,' CFIA has failed to address the systemic breakdowns that allow zoonotic TB strains to continue entering Canada through the primate trade.'
She said PETA's 2025 Tuberculosis Report presents 'irrefutable' evidence that the current screening, quarantine and containment protocols for imported monkeys are insufficient.
'In the United States, multiple strains of zoonotic TB have repeatedly breached these defences, spreading within primate research colonies and exposing workers and the public. The same source countries, the same inadequate testing regimens and the same commercial supply chains implicated in these U.S. outbreaks are being used to funnel monkeys into Canada.
'Public records and diagnostic data reveal a troubling reality: CFIA's policies are not preventing disease introduction—they are masking it. Without urgent reforms, Canada remains vulnerable to the same biosecurity failures that have plagued the U.S. primate research pipeline,' she said.
The issue garnered more attention this summer when Bloomberg Investigates was awarded an Emmy for its documentary The Dirty Business of Monkey Laundering in the category of Outstanding Short Documentary. The film explores the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency's multi-year investigation into charges that Cambodian officials were passing off wild-caught macaques as captive-raised, by doctoring paperwork and then selling them to multinational firms that sell monkeys for pharmaceutical experiments.
Though the Cambodian government official who was charged following that investigation was acquitted, the trial put a spotlight on the issue. The documentary explains how Cambodia suddenly became a major exporter after China stopped exports at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cambodia suddenly went from exporting about 6,000 long-tailed macaques per year, to about 30,000.
The demand for these primates also went up, partly due to the search for vaccines. Long-tailed macaques are now selling for approximately $50,000 per individual.
Animal rights groups argue science has advanced to a point where several better options exist for testing vaccines and drugs without using primates.
More than 3,000 people have signed a parliamentary petition. sponsored by NDP MP for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie Alexandre Boulerice, calling on the Canadian government to immediately suspend all endangered monkey imports from Cambodia.