Our company ranks among the largest global importers, consumers, and distributors of primates, transporting thousands of monkeys annually from Southeast Asia and Mauritius. These imports primarily include the endangered Macaca fascicularis (long-tailed macaque) sourced from farms in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Mauritius. Notably, our main supplier in Cambodia, K-F Cambodia LTD, and the Vina Mekong and Thanh Cong farms in Vietnam, lack accreditation from AAALAC. While voluntary, AAALAC accreditation signifies adherence to minimum standards of animal care and the commitment to “achieve excellence in animal care and use.”
In 2024, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora affirmed the need for added oversight on Macaca fascicularis exports from Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, to evaluate the legality, sustainability, and traceability of the trade. During a U.S. Department of Justice trial in Miami, evidence revealed that over 30,000 macaques were illegally captured from the wild and falsely labeled as captive-bred, violating federal law. Our company was identified as a VIP client of Vanny Bio-Research, the Cambodian farm implicated in these activities. Consequently, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has restricted the entry of Cambodian monkeys unless they are proven to be captive-bred, resulting in over 1,000 of our Cambodian-origin macaques being held in legal limbo. Nonetheless, we have imported approximately 8,000 live macaques into Canada within the past 24 months and re-exported tens of thousands of these specimens to the U.S. The SEC continues to investigate our acquisition of monkeys from Asia1, and our recent imports of Cambodian-origin macaques into Canada are also under scrutiny.
Imported primates from Vietnam have been linked to a tuberculosis outbreak in the EU, and in 2023, the CDC reported a new TB strain arriving in the U.S. from Asian primates. Additionally, shipments of Cambodian-origin macaques have carried bacteria classified by U.S. officials as a Tier 1 Select Agent due to its potential lethality. Our company asserts that “[k]nowing the exact health status of your research model colonies is vital to achieving valid and reproducible research results” and that it conducts “routine health surveillance on our animal colonies.” However, it does not share primate health statuses transparently on its website as with other species.2
Expanding primate importation presents significant public health and safety risks, as well as potential damage to our company’s reputation and business. Increased transparency is essential for maintaining corporate integrity and supporting responsible shareholder engagement.
We urge shareholders to vote in favor of this responsible resolution.