Thanks to the hard work -- and over seven
years of perseverance -- of the International
Primate Protection League's Chairwoman, Dr. Shirley
McGreal, the 'Air France Baby Monkeys' are receiving
justice!
It was over seven years ago that Dr. Shirley
McGreal received an eye-witness report from a person
who had seen dozens of baby monkeys pathetically
packed in crates at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
The monkeys had been consigned by the Indonesian
animal dealer Agus Darmawan to the firm LABS of
Virginia which breeds monkeys for research in Yemassee,
South Carolina.
Shipment of infant animals violates U.S. law.
IPPL obtained documents showing that not only baby
monkeys were included in the April and May 1997
shipments, but that wild-caught adult monkeys had
been shipped on fraudulent "captive-born"
documents.
In the subsequent years, Dr. McGreal and IPPL
members deluged prosecutors and wildlife agents
with letters, postcards, and petitions demanding
"Justice for the baby monkeys!"
On 3 April 2002, the company LABS of Virginia
itself, along with three company officers were indicted.
The individuals were David Taub, president of LABS
at the time of the shipments; Charles Stern, Chairman
of the Board of LABS, and LABS Board member Curtis
Henley.
LABS and Taub were each charged with eight (8)
FELONIES and four (4) misdemeanors (12 counts each)
and faced steep fines and long prison terms with
Henley and Curtis each facing one charge.
18 August 2004, the Chicago Tribune reported:
| A South Carolina breeder and
seller of monkeys for medical research pleaded
guilty today in U.S. District Court, Chicago,
to misrepresenting a shipment of primates as
having been bred in captivity when in fact many
had been captured in the wild.
Labs of Virginia Inc. pleaded guilty to
one felony count of submitting false records
when it imported monkeys from Indonesia in
1997. The case was heard here because the
animals were brought into the U.S. through
O'Hare International Airport, officials said.
According to a plea agreement between
the defendant and the U.S. attorney's office
entered today before U.S. District Judge Ruben
Castillo, the company faces two years of probation,
a fine of $500,000 and forfeiture totaling
$64,675. Sentencing was scheduled for Nov.
16.
Also as part of the agreement, the government
at sentencing is to dismiss charges against
three former officers of Labs of Virginia.
The company currently is under new management,
authorities said.
The company admitted guilt in connection
to a shipment of 220 monkeys, 80 of which
had been caught in the wild. That shipment
was the first of four totaling 846 primates,
327 of which were wild.
The animals are protected under the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora, officials said.
[From: 'Firm admits trafficking
in wild monkeys', By Matt O'Connor, Tribune
staff reporter]
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A heart-felt "Thank you!" to Dr. Shirley
McGreal and IPPL for working so tirelessly for the
'Air France Baby Monkeys' as well as all primates.
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UPDATE
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15
DECEMBER 2004 SENTENCING
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LABS of Virginia
was sentenced to two years' probation
and fined $500,000.00
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The press release appended below is from the
U.S. Department of Justice. It took five years for
there to be an indictment in this case and over
seven years for the guilty plea.
More information is available on IPPL's web
site at www.IPPL.org
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
Northern District of Illinois
Patrick J. Fitzgerald United States Attorney
Federal Building 219 South Dearborn Street
Chicago Illinois 60604
(312)353-5300
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY APRIL 3, 2002
AUSA Diane MacArthur (312) 353-5352
AUSA/PIO Randall Samborn (312) 353-5318
U. S. INDICTS SOUTH CAROLINA
PRIMATE FIRM AND OFFICERS FOR IMPORTATION AND HUMANE
TRANSPORTATION WILDLIFE VIOLATIONS
CHICAGO - A South Carolina
firm engaged in breeding and selling non-human primates
for use in medical research, two current officers
and a former officer were indicted for allegedly
violating federal wildlife protection laws arising
from four shipments of monkeys known by the scientific
name "Cynomolgus macaques," which entered
the United States through O'Hare International Airport
from Indonesia in 1997. The firm, LABS of Virginia,
Inc., allegedly imported the macaques in order to
establish its own breeding colony in Yemassee, S.
Carolina, where it is based, Patrick J. Fitzgerald,
United States Attorney for the Northern District
of Illinois, announced today.
A federal grand jury returned
a 12-count indictment late yesterday, alleging that
the shipments contained wild-caught macaques in
violation of Indonesian law and that the shipping
documents falsely represented that the shipments
contained only macaques bred in captivity. The indictment
also alleges that three of the shipments contained
nursing mothers and unweaned young in violation
of federal regulations.
In addition to charging
the firm, the current officers named in the indictment
are Charles J. Stern, chairman of the board, and
William Curtis Henley III, a Labs board member.
Also indicted was David M. Taub, who was LABS's
president at the time of the shipments. Taub, 59,
of Beaufort, S. Car., Stern, 44, of Newport News,Va.,
and Henley, 43, of Poquoson, Va., will be arraigned
later in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
According to the indictment,
in 1996 LABS entered into negotiations with an Indonesian
firm, Indonesian Aquatics Export CV, known as Inquatex,
to purchase the breeding colony consisting of approximately
1,312 macaques. The macaques in the Inquatex colony
were classified under an international treaty as
a species that might become threatened unless trade
in the species was strictly limited. The United
States and Indonesia were both parties to the treaty,
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as "CITES."
The indictment alleges that, at the same time, Indonesia
had a law banning the export of the type of macaques
in the Inquatex colony if those macaques were wild-caught.
The Inquatex colony that Labs ultimately purchased
consisted of both wild-caught and captive-bred macaques.
The four shipments of macaques sent from Inquatex
to Labs arrived at O'Hare Airport between Feb. 20,
1997, and May 30, 1997, the indictment alleges,
with permits and health certificates for each of
the shipments reflecting that they contained captive-bred
macaques, when the shipments actually contained
a mix of wild-caught and captive-bred macaques.
The last three shipments contained between 17 to
19 pairs of nursing mothers and unweaned young,
according to the indictment.
LABS and Taub were charged
in all 12 counts of the indictment. They were charged
with four felony counts of submitting false records
in connection with the four shipments, four felony
counts of an importation violation, one misdemeanor
count of trafficking in wildlife in violation of
a foreign nation's (Indonesia) law, and three misdemeanor
counts of shipping nursing mothers and unweaned
young in violation of federal regulations. Stern
and Henley were each charged in the one misdemeanor
count alleging trafficking in violation of a foreign
law.
"This office treats
seriously the obligation of importers of wildlife
to honor laws and regulations designed to protect
certain species and to insure their safe and humane
transport," Mr. Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald announced the
charges with Mary Jane Lavin, Assistant Regional
Director, Division of Law Enforcement for the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service. The case was investigated
by Fish and Wildlife Special Agent David Kirkby
in Chicago. The government is being represented
by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur.
The crimes charged in
the indictment carry the following maximum sentences
as to each count of conviction: (1) false records
charges - five years imprisonment and a $250,000
fine; (2) trafficking charge - one year imprisonment
and a $10,000 fine; (3) importation in violation
of law charges- 5 years and a $250,000 fine; and
(4) humane transport violations- one year imprisonment
and a $10,000 fine.
The public is reminded
that an indictment contains only charges and is
not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed
innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which
the United States has the burden of proving guilt
beyond reasonable doubt.
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Click
here to read more about IPPL's 'Baby Monkeys' Campaign
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Perserverance is
more prevailing than violence; and many
things which cannot be overcome when they
are together, yield themselves up when taken
little by little.
Plutarch,
Greek essayist
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August 2004