Frequently asked questions about animal welfare

What role does BPRC play in research on life-threatening diseases?

In its capacity as Europe's one of the largest largest non-commercial primate research centre, BPRC plays a vital part in biomedical research on serious diseases affecting humans. BPRC conducts both exploratory and applied medical research for the purpose of improving public health.

The purpose of our exploratory research is to increase our knowledge of the genesis and pathogenesis of chronic and infectious diseases. The purpose of our applied research is to contribute to the development of new medications or therapies for serious diseases.

Without exception, such studies take a long time to be completed, and experiments involving primates continue to be necessary. We accommodate and look after our animals with great devotion and attention, and while we do so, we try to determine how we can change things in the future. For this reason, BPRC is very active in the development of alternative methods which do not involve animal testing.

We do not keep the results of our studies (both involving and not involving animals) to ourselves. We make all our data available to third parties through publications, for example. Besides that, our special biobank, constitutes a valuable source of information for organisations both in the Netherlands and abroad.

How does BPRC accommodate its monkeys?

Thanks to a major grant by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, we were able to create (in close consultation with animal welfare experts!) large group cages that enable us to breed the animals. As a result, our animal enclosures have been completely overhauled, and nearly all of BPRC's monkeys now live in a spacious and modern environment where they can be sociable.

In addition to the large colonies used for breeding purposes, BPRC has equipped the units where the experiments are carried out with large cases in which the animals can live together and be sociable. Moreover, our animal behaviour experts keep a daily eye on the accommodations and on the composition of the social groups.

Do BPRC's monkeys lead terrible lives?

We will continue, to the best of our ability, to give our animals pleasant lives for as long as animal testing continues to be necessary. We use animals for experimentation purposes so that we can contribute to the development of vaccines and medications against life-threatening diseases that occur worldwide.

However, we do ensure that the animals used for these experiments lead the best lives we are able to give them. Since they are bred to be used in scientific projects, they deserve good lives, and we try every day to give them these good lives. For this reason, they spend the first years of their lives (four years for rhesus and crab-eating macaques, 1.5 years for marmosets) in their birth group. Many of our monkeys are never used in experiments in the first place.

How do you go about making the animals' lives as pleasant as possible?

The outdoor enclosures are large cages in which the monkeys have plenty of room to move freely and play to their hearts' content. In order to ‘enrich’ their lives, we give them many toys and pieces of equipment, such as fire hoses, roosts for them to sit on, balls, trapezes and mirrors.* Our animal care workers have actually won awards for their continued efforts to ensure that BPRC's monkeys have the best possible living conditions.

Another major component of our policy is so-called 'food enrichment'. This means that we offer animals who are subject to an experimental protocol something new every day, ranging from icecream to food puzzles. We described and explained all forms of environmental enrichment used at BPRC for the various species of monkeys in the 'Enrichment Manual for Macaques and Marmosets' we drew up in association with EUPRIM-NET. Research institutes from all over the world have requested copies of this manual, so that they, too, can successfully provide their animals with pleasant lives. The document can be downloaded here.

* In the past several organisations donated materials that could be used for environmental enrichment purposes (e.g. old tennis balls, tyres, ropes, fire hoses). These materials were donated by organisations such as schools, sports clubs and fire brigades. BPRC continues to appreciate donations to its fund for environmental enrichment.

How do you prepare your monkeys for experiments?

BPRC has engaged in animal training, designed to get the animals to cooperate with scientists of their own accord, for quite a few years now. The purpose of this training is to ensure that the experiments can be carried out in a smooth and anxiety-free manner, where possible.

For this reason, animal training is an important part of our enrichment strategy. If our animals can be taught to cooperate (for instance, by shaking a human's hand), they will experience less anxiety during the performance of certain procedures. By means of so-called ‘Positive Reinforcement Training’ (PRT) we reward our animals for their good behaviour (e.g. by giving them peanuts and raisins) and ignore their poor behaviour. This highly effective method is based on animals' natural ability to learn from their experiences.

Do your monkeys suffer a great deal of discomfort?

Animal testing is subject to stringent regulations in the Netherlands. Severe suffering is not tolerated.

After all, every animal has the right to a life with as little pain and anxiety as possible. If animals are expected to suffer severe discomfort in a new study, the study will quite simply not be conducted. The Central Authority for Scientific Procedures on Animals (CCD) (an external organisation) weighs the study's scientific importance against the level of discomfort expected to be experienced by the animals. Studies must be designed in such a way as to keep animal suffering to an absolute minimum. Our animal care workers play a part in this process, by training the monkeys to accept research settings so as to prevent anxiety. Our vets seek to find better ways to interact with the monkeys every day.

What do we mean when we say 'discomfort'?

Discomfort is a lack of well-being in the broadest sense of the word. It may include pain and illness, as well as anxiety or the lack of natural living conditions.

Despite the fact that ‘discomfort’ is a broad concept, we do keep track of the level of discomfort experienced by our animals, using a scoring system. Under previous animal testing legislation, our scoring system involved a scale from 1 to 6. Under the new Dutch Experiments on Animals Act 2014, we must characterise the various levels of discomfort as mild, moderate, severe or extremely severe.

Can you be an animal lover if you work at BPRC?

You bet! It is actually our animal care workers who make the difference to our monkeys.

They try to make the lives of our monkeys as good and entertaining as possible. They inevitably end up loving the animals and do not like to send them into experiments, even though they understand why it is necessary to do so. We accommodate and look after our animals with devotion and attention, and while we do so, we try to determine how we can change things in the future. To this end, BPRC makes a very active contribution to the development of methods that may be able to replace animal testing.

Can I get a tour of your premises?

You are welcome to come and see us at BPRC. Upon request, we will give school classes, students and groups of other interested parties a tour of our premises.

Many reports of such visits can be found on the Internet. We often receive visits from ministers, state secretaries and other policy makers, who are welcome guests at BPRC. Each year, BPRC receives more than 600 visitors.

If we join a tour, will we see all of your company?

Technically, yes, but we do not like exposing the animals at our experimental units to a high level of anxiety by allowing people they do not know into their environment. Moreover, people visiting the closed environment (where we prepare the animals for the experiments and where they are examined) must have undergone tuberculosis screening, because the animals are susceptible to TBC.

In addition, people must change out of their own clothes, wear mouth caps and possibly take a shower. We take these precautions because these animals are susceptible to some of our diseases.

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