Jemma and three other mother baboons have been killed at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) after years spent suffering in gruesome experiments, according to a press release from PETA.
Jemma was forcibly made pregnant and then cut open at least three different times by researchers at EVMS who took her developing fetuses from her body to dissect, according to medical records obtained by Lady Freethinker (LFT) via a Freedom of Information Act request. She suffered in cruel experiments at EVMS from 2011 until her death.
Lady Freethinker’s investigation into these experiments exposed baboons suffering amputations, hair loss, lesions, bruises, and self-inflicted injuries that pointed to severe psychological suffering. Jemma was missing her thumbs and several fingers according to the medical records LFT obtained. She also broke her teeth biting on the bars of her cage in distress, according to records LFT obtained.
Jemma suffered seizures as a consequence of the experiments. In one particularly appalling instance, she was found unresponsive and salivating in her cage by lab staff who did nothing to help Jemma after finding her, according to the federal inspector who reviewed her records.
EVMS researchers cut into Jemma two days after finding her unresponsive — to remove her breathing baby who was killed for “research,” according to her medical records.
Lady Freethinker campaigned for years to allow Jemma and the other baboons to be retired to a reputable sanctuary. When Lady Freethinker asked EVMS why Jemma could not be allowed to live in a sanctuary after the experiments concluded EVMS did not provide a rationale.
This tragic news that Jemma and other baboons were killed follows a report that U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors recently revoked EVMS’s authorization to perform multiple C-section surgeries on the baboons due to animal welfare concerns, according to Virginia Mercury.
EVMS experimenters appear to have elected to kill the baboons once they were no longer of use to them instead of letting them live out their final days in a sanctuary where they could feel the grass on their feet and the sun on their faces.
The baboon pregnancy experiments at EVMS have caused suffering for hundreds of baboons and have been funded since 1981. The experiments have not yielded any direct clinical application for humans to date.
Animal experimentation is cruel, and is also not an effective way to test new treatments for humans — the overwhelming majority of clinical trials for drugs tested on animals fail to work for humans. More sophisticated, reliable, and cruelty-free alternatives to animal experimentation exist.
Baboons are incredibly intelligent and social animals who experience fear, stress, grief, and other emotions like humans do. Jemma and the other primates at EVMS did not deserve to suffer the disturbing violence they did – nor did they deserve to be killed.
It’s too late for Jemma but other primates need our help to save them from cruel, needless experiments. Sign this petition to urge the U.S. government to end the import of macaques from Indonesia for the research industry.
