Two animal-advocacy organizations have filed a lawsuit against the planned improvement and expansion of UC Davis’ California Regional Primate Research Center.
The suit, filed in Yolo County Superior Court, by the Animal Protection Institute of Sacramento and In Defense of Animals of Mill Valley, charges that the campus’s environmental impact report on the project doesn’t comply with state environmental regulations.
"We’re quite confident that the detailed planning process for this project fully meets all environmental planning requirements," said Sid England, campus environmental planner. "We will provide the plaintiffs with access to all campus records related to the project and look forward to bringing the legal challenge to a quick resolution."
The expansion will increase the number of monkeys housed at the center from 3,800 to about 5,000. It will include construction of new monkey field corrals and smaller outdoor enclosures, a research office building and trailer, a rodent facility for the neighboring Center for Comparative Medicine, and storm-water drainage improvements for the entire facility.
The construction project will be within the center’s existing 469-acre site on County Road 98, south of Russell Boulevard. It is planned to begin this spring and will take about five years to complete.
"This project is necessary to help meet the nationwide need for primates in research aimed at preventing and curing human diseases including asthma, autism and AIDS," said Jeff Roberts, assistant director of the primate center.
"We are continually exploring and developing alternatives to the use of animals in research but, in some cases, primates are the best or only models for studying serious health problems."
Established in 1962, the primate center is one of eight regional primate centers supported by the National Institutes of Health. Its mission is to conduct research in selected areas related to human health. To support that program, the center maintains a large breeding program.
The center provides monkeys, mostly rhesus macaques, to research programs at seven UC campuses as well as to other research institutions nationwide. Those programs include studies of cancer, asthma, AIDS, osteoporosis, neurodegenerative disease, and infant development and nutrition.