HC Deb 15 February 1955 vol 537 c176
21. Mr. Peter Freeman

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that 394 monkeys out of a total consignment of 1,600 were found to have died from suffocation while in London en route from Delhi to the United States of America; and, in view of the fact that these are required solely for the purposes of experiments by vivisection, whether he will prohibit importation of these and other animals to avoid further such incidents.

Mr. H. Strauss

My right hon. Friend deplores what happened in this case, but does not think that import restrictions would be an appropriate method of dealing with these problems.

Mr. Freeman

Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that over 1,000 monkeys died en route from India to this country last year, that most of them were female monkeys which had babies on the way, and that both babies and mothers died? Will he consider if some action could be taken to stop this abominable traffic, which is going on in such large numbers?

Mr. Strauss

I do not think this problem could properly be dealt with by restrictions on transhipment. Of course, I sympathise with what prompted the Question by the hon. Member, but I think that this matter is really better dealt with under the Protection of Animals Act than under import or transhipment restrictions