For immediate release:

Animal rights activists say some travel agents are supporting animal torture.

Wellington animal rights campaigners have joined a protest campaign against the tourist industry on the island of Mauritius. They say Mauritius sells monkeys to vivisection laboratories all over the world and protests are planned outside all travel agents who promote travel to the island.

The Wellington Animal Rights Network (WARN) will be protesting outside Harvey World Travel, 358 Lambton Quay, at 12.30 on Friday September 16th 2005.

WARN spokesperson Clare Howard says the vast majority of primates used in experiments in Europe and the United States come from the island of Mauritius

"Every year many thousands of tourists holiday on the island of Mauritius. One thing never seen in the brochures promoting this destination is the fact that Mauritius is one of the largest exporters of primates to animal testing labs" she said.

"Many thousands of primates are flown off the island to Europe, Japan and the USA involving journeys of many days. Some of the animals suffocate in the cargo hold and the animals that do make it are then shipped off to laboratories where they will suffer and eventually die in painful experiments".

"The biggest industry in Mauritius is the tourism trade and this is why we are targeting travel agents. We are asking potential tourists and tourist agencies to boycott Mauritius until the government withdraws the export licence which allows the primate traders to send these animals to their deaths".

WARN says the protests are part of a global campaign against the island of Mauritius. Clare Howard says the protests are increasing against travel agents all over the world, most notably Thomas Cook who are one of the main agents for Mauritius travel.

ENDS

Background on the global campaign can be found at the Gateway To Hell campaign website: www.gatewaytohell.net

Undercover film of primate experiments in the US (on monkeys supplied by Mauritius), filmed this year, can be found here
www.covancecruelty.com

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