Animal rights activists said police attacked a protest on Saturday held outside the infamous monkey breeding farm in central Israel. At least 9 activists were detained, although four of them were released, but the remaining five had a court hearing on Sunday. Another activist, which had been released will also need to attend the court hearing. They are charged of attacking police officers, which the activists deny. “The level of violence displayed by the police today is unprecedented in the Israeli animal rights movement,” the activists said in a statment. The Mazor Primate Breeding Farm, which is located in Moshav Mazor, central Israel has been breeding monkeys for experimentation outside the country for over 12 years and approximately 1,000 monkeys, adults and infants, are held in the farm. Each monkey is sold for around $2,600 to any paying lab. According to the activists, the farm sends hundreds of baby monkeys every year to labs in Europe and specifically to laboratories in the UK. Adult monkeys are trapped and flown from the Mauritius islands to the Mazor farm, which has put Israel in the third position after China and Mauritius, in the export of monkeys to Europe for lab testings. “The Mazor Farm operates against Israel's official policy, which specifically prohibits import and export of primates except in special cases of the primates' own rehabilitation or rescue.” BM
