armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Fri Dec 16, 2022 12:12 pm
The law's the law etc but imho they are welcome to round up and sell as many of the buggers as they like in Cambodia. The monkeys are a pestilence.

It's a very interesting news story to follow, on many different levels.

Here is a piece with more details.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambod ... 04335.html

And another story from VOD, claiming that from the American side, imports from Cambodia are being stopped, naming another firm (besides the other one named above, "Charles River") ..."Inotiv, Inc., a drug research and biopharmaceutical company" has suspended imports from Cambodia. Also, another local company here is named, "Vanny Bio Research", a supplier of monkeys, and its managers are facing felony charges for bringing the endangered wild macaques in from the forest for export...

https://vodenglish.news/us-monkey-impor ... -cambodia/

I think this is fairly serious, trade in endangered species is a big crime. If you think these creatures are a pestilence as you say, you might change your mind if you saw the unpleasant experiments to which they are subjected during "research"...

US public not warned that monkeys imported from Cambodia carried deadly pathogens
Documents reveal that pathogenic agents, zoonotic bacteria and viruses, including one deemed bioterrorism risk, entered US but ‘no indication CDC has been transparent’
Claire Colley
Sun 18 Dec 2022 20.27 GMT

Animal activists are calling for the US government to stop the importation of non-human primates for laboratory use after documents from the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal that deadly pathogenic agents, zoonotic bacteria and viruses – including one deemed to be a bioterrorism risk – entered the country with monkeys imported from Asia between 2018 and 2021.

Documents obtained by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) and seen exclusively by the Guardian, along with a case report by the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, reveal that there have been six cases of Burkholderia pseudomallei identified in primates imported from Cambodia to the US.

The CDC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Peta has written to the CDC urging that they immediately stop the importation of all non-human primates for the protection of US residents, for the integrity of science, and for the welfare of the animals and their ecosystems.

B pseudomallei, endemic in Southeast Asia, causes melioidosis, a rare but potentially deadly disease in humans, usually caused by contact with the pathogen in soil or water. It has a mortality rate of up to 50% and B pseudomallei is, according to the CDC, a “Tier 1 select agent” with potential as a bioterrorism agent.

Dr Lisa Jones-Engel, a Peta senior science adviser, told the Guardian: “There is no indication that the CDC or research industries have been transparent with the public about these diseased monkeys.”

Published last week, the case report titled “Melioidosis in a Cynomolgus Macaque Imported to the United States from Cambodia” reveals that one of the macaques entered the US from Cambodia by air with 359 other macaques and was diagnosed with B pseudomallei in quarantine in Texas in January 2021. Imported non-human primates, or NHPs, are held in CDC-mandated quarantine for 31 days while undergoing testing for infectious diseases.

The macaque was euthanized due to concerns about zoonotic transmission and potential introduction of this Tier 1 select agent into the environment. The report reveals that the other 359 monkeys shipped with the infected monkey “appeared healthy at the end of the quarantine period and were released from CDC-mandated quarantine”.

However, asymptomatic infected animals can shed B pseudomallei into the environment. Jones-Engel said: “Monkeys imported from Asia can harbor the Burkholderia pathogen for months, shedding the bacteria via their feces, urine, blood and saliva into the environment. The CDC knows the danger to humans and has failed to warn the public.”
Full article: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -pathogens

Senior agriculture official still detained despite release order: minister
Post Staff | Publication date 24 December 2022 | 12:22 ICT

The US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on December 22 ordered the release on bail of senior Cambodian agriculture official Kry Masphal, but the agriculture minister claimed two days later that the official had yet to be let go.

Masphal was arrested last month in the US on charges of conspiracy to smuggle long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) into the country.

The December 22 release order came after three days of bond hearings, on December 19, 20, and 22, before Judge Kathleen M Williams in Chambers in Miami, Florida, and took immediate effect, according to the court document, obtained by The Post.

“For reasons discussed on the record during the aforementioned hearings, Mr Kry is ordered released as of the time of entry of this order and is to be fitted with a GPS monitoring system immediately upon release by the pre-trial services office in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York,” said the order, issued by the judge.

The document stated that Masphal would have to report to the Cambodian embassy in Washington and remain there until December 27.

“On December 27, 2022, Mr Kry will report to the pre-trial services office for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he will be re-fitted with another GPS monitoring system.

“Mr Kry will then reside at a residence in the Eastern District of Virginia where he will remain for the duration of this litigation. Mr Kry will remain at this residence on home confinement, with no exceptions, until further order of this court,” it said.

In a social media post, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Dith Tina claimed that Masphal had not been released as of December 24.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... r-minister

Cambodia News, (Phnom Penh): The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries this morning, December 28, 2022, issued a notification of the release on bail of Mr. Kry Meaphal, Director of the Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity of the Forestry Administration, by the United States Court.

The Ministry of Agriculture confirms that on the morning of December 28, 2022, which is the evening of December 27, in the United States, Mr. Kry Meaphal was released on bail. After going through a tough legal battle, two American lawyers defended the Cambodian official in a US court, by providing the necessary and timely assistance from the Cambodian Embassy in the United States, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the Royal Government of Cambodia.

Latest:
Charles River Laboratories shares plunge after Justice Department subpoena relating to NHPs
By Sam Boughedda

Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) shares plummeted over 14% Wednesday after the company said in its latest earnings report that it has received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with an investigation into the Cambodian non-human primate (NHP) supply chain.

The company stated that it has been informed the investigation relates to several shipments of NHPs it received from its Cambodian supplier. NHPs are monkeys CRL sells for medical research.

"Charles River intends to fully cooperate with the U.S. government as part of their investigation," the CRL stated. "Due to ongoing investigations and the heightened focus on the Cambodian NHP supply chain in recent months, Charles River has voluntarily suspended NHP shipments from Cambodia at this time."

The U.S. Department of Justice announced in November 2022, via the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, that a Cambodian NHP supplier, as well as two Cambodian officials, had been criminally charged in relation to illegally importing NHPs into the U.S.
In full: https://www.investing.com/news/stock-ma ... SI-3010871

UPDATE
Row erupts over 1,000 lab-test monkeys that may be killed or returned ‘to be trafficked again’
Conservationists demand urgent meeting with company summonsed to court by justice chiefs
Jane Dalton
1 hour ago
[excerpts]
A row has broken out over the fate of at least 1,000 endangered monkeys imported to the US from Cambodia for a testing laboratory and might be killed or returned home “to be trafficked again”, say activists.

The long-tailed macaques were among several shipments imported by Charles River Laboratories (CRL) in the past six months, and denied clearance because the lab could not show that they were not caught from the wild, according to animal-rights organisation Peta.

Now the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) must decide whether they will be put down, handed to a sanctuary or sent back to Asia.
In 2021, monkeys being flown to the US for laboratory research died in crates on the plane.

USFWS officials have been carrying out a five-year investigation into the laundering of wild-caught monkeys from Cambodia, and earlier this month they announced importers must be able prove with a DNA test yet to be developed that monkeys bound for laboratories were bred in captivity.

A spokesperson for the company told The Independent it had voluntarily suspended planned future shipments of Cambodian non-human primates (NHPs) “until such time we and the US Fish and Wildlife Service can develop and implement new procedures to reinforce confidence that the NHPs we import from Cambodia are purpose-bred”.

She added: “While these discussions with US Fish and Wildlife Service are ongoing, we have also agreed to continue to care for the Cambodia-sourced non-human primates from these shipments.”
In full: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 03158.html

US case against alleged monkey smuggler is 'attack on Cambodia,' his lawyers claim
Former Cambodian wildlife official makes his first court appearance since his November arrest in New York.
Tara McKelvey and Jack Adamović Davies for RFA
2023.04.21

The former head of Cambodia’s Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity should not be held responsible for illegally smuggling research monkeys because he was acting on orders of his government and not in a personal capacity, his lawyers have argued in a U.S. government case against him.
Moreover, the U.S. case against Masphal Kry is tantamount to an attack on the Cambodian government, his defense lawyers argued, calling the indictment “a full-on assault on a foreign ministry.”

U.S. Justice Department officials said Kry and seven other individuals were running a smuggling operation involving hundreds of long-tail macaques - a primate key for medical studies - poached from the wild in Cambodia and shipped illegally to the U.S.

Kry, who has been under house arrest since he was apprehended at New York’s JFK airport in November 2022, made his first court appearance at an evidentiary hearing in Miami on Friday.

Officials in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida have accused Kry of taking monkeys from the national parks and other locations in Cambodia and then falsifying permits, making it seem as though the animals had been raised in a breeding facility - the only legal place where the research primates can be sourced from.
The prosecutors accuse Kry and his associates of trying to make it seem as though the monkeys had been bred in captivity, when in fact the monkeys had been caught in the wild.
In full: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambod ... 82723.html

April 25, 2023
Ministry defends Masphal as trial begins in US court
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries vowed to bring justice to Kry Masphal, head of Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity, who stood trial in a US court on Friday.

Masphal was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York last November allegedly in connection with an international primate smuggling ring, while he was on the way to attend a UN Forum on endangered species in Panama.

According to the US Justice Department officials, Masphal and seven other individuals were allegedly running a smuggling business involving hundreds of long-tail macaques – a primate key for medical studies – poached from the wild in Cambodia and shipping them illegally to the US.

Masphal, who has been released on bail since then, made his first court appearance at an evidentiary hearing in Miami on Friday.

“We will continue to seek justice for Kry Masphal by finding additional evidence to substantiate the facts and ensure his release,” Im Rachna, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501278561/ ... -us-court/

It's getting very real for him now he's facing the music all alone. I wonder if he will do a deal, name the names, spill the beans and apply for asylum.

What is he looking at, 10 - 15 years? Most people do a deal and get far less, those who go to trial get the lot.