DUBAI: The reports that Iran is planning to send a monkey into space have left animal rights groups frustrated and angry. According to state television, the country's top space official said after the launch of the Rassad-1 satellite that it would send the monkey in the near future. “The Kavoshgar-5 rocket will be launched during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogram capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometers (74 miles),” said Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organization. This follows a February unveiling by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he said the country has a space capsule designed to carry a live monkey into space, along with four new prototypes of home-built satellites the country hopes to launch before March 2012. The reports, however have left regional and international animal rights groups up in arms over what they say is the “inhumane” treatment of animals in space programs. Dina Yussif, a Jordanian living in Dubai and an avid promoter of animal rights, told Bikya Masr that she was disappointed by the move. “Other countries have already sent animals into space and now they are going to be doing the same thing. Why?” she asked. “I will fight this as hard as possible from here and hopefully someone will listen.” It won't be the first time Iran will be sending animals into space. The country sent small animals into space – a rat, turtles and worms – aboard its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010. Across the region, animal rights activists have been calling on the country's leaders to rethink the plan. They have begun campaigns online in an effort to put pressure on the Iranian government. Still, no leading international organization has entered into condemning the Iranian governments use of animals in their space program. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the US-based animal rights organization, has previously lashed out against the American space program for its abuses and maltreatment of animals. BM
