Please read the following and act!! Help make this worldwide email-action a succes! (This action is part of an ongoing, 4 years old campaign by individual activists, legal organisations, grassroot groups, etc. against the primate center with the sole aim to close it down!)

Dear all,

Last sunday February 9th 2003 two Rhesus Macaques escaped from the BPRC- Europe's largest primate centre in the Netherlands. The two animals were housed in one of the cages outside. It's very likely the old housing had a small hole in it which the monkeys made bigger themselves. In the course of the day, one monkey was caugth, using a tranquiliser dart, the other was also caught, but only at the end of the day.

Ofcourse this is a great moment to get into action (again)! I made a letter both in Dutch as in English, demanding instant closure of the BPRC and the release of all 1600 animals to Stichting AAP (a Dutch exotic animal sanctuary) or other sanctuaries of our liking.

Help me by sending the letter below to i...@minocw.nl, which is the ministry that has the power to close down the BPRC. Make sure the subject says: "T.a.v. mevr. Maria van der Hoeven" (this is the person quilty of letting the BPRC continue to torture those poor animals!)

Make sure you send this message on to everybody you know! The 1600 monkeys housed in the BPRC need all the help they can get! By the time you recieve this e-mail animal lovers from the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Germany, France and loads of other countries already stood as one and demanded the closure....now it's time for you to join us and help 1600 animals get a better life!!

Thanks!!!
(the email-action will continue till the 16th of February!!)

ps: don't forget to put your own name under the letter!!
pps: please send an e-mail to Lies...@VivisectionSucks.com when you helped us out. That way we can see how many e-mails have been send to M. v/d Hoeven. (and you will recieve a small e-mail with the outcome of the action after the 16th!)
ppps: if you see any mistakes when it comes to spelling...that could be right, since I'm Dutch :) Please take the time to correct any misspelling. Thanks!

More info: www.bprcmoetdicht.org (in English)

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Dear Maria v/d Hoeven,

With absolute horror I heard about the escape of two Rhesus macaques from the BPRC- Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Rijswijk, the Netherlands.

Because of this incident I have a couple of questions:

- How is it possible that two monkeys can escape from the largest primate center of Europe? Doesn't this show the incapability of the BPRC housing any animals and therefor also taking care of any animals?

- Were the two monkeys infected with a disease? If so, which disease and did they form any threat to the health of humans?

- Can you inform me about the welfare of the caught monkeys? I have no doubt that hunting down the animals and then tranquilise them with a dart, seriously distresses the animals! Will these monkeys get extra care? If so, please inform me about what extra care these poor animals will get then.

- It's not the first time animals escape from the BPRC. We can only wait till a monkey which is infected with a very dangerous disease escapes and spreads this disease among the Dutch population. Is it not so that you can only guarantee the safety of the animals of the BPRC and the citizens of Rijswijk in particular and the Netherlands as a whole by closing down the BPRC in Rijswijk?

Because of yet another misstep of the BPRC in a very short time (think of the death of Walter and Coen last year....!) I urge you to immediatly close down the BPRC and release all animals to Stichting AAP or another sanctuary of my liking!

It's simply criminal that 1600 animals are still being used in midieval experiments. Please send me a personal reaction a.s.a.p.

Yours truly,

.............(your name)