Bioculture, the company that planned to open a monkey-breeding facility in Guayama, Puerto Rico, suffered another crippling blow today when Puerto Rico's Court of Appeals upheld a December 2009 Superior Court ruling that the construction of the facility was illegal because of zoning and permit issues.

You may recall that PETA and local citizens first got construction of the facility stopped in 2009 with a successful lawsuit and injunction blocking further construction. Unhappy that we interrupted its plans to imprison monkeys and sell them off to cruel fates in laboratories, Bioculture appealed the decision. And now, once again, the Puerto Rican courts have told the company, "No más."

Since the city of Guayama has also enacted a law banning the import, export, breeding, and use of monkeys in experiments within its boundaries, Bioculture's shameful activities thankfully have no home in Puerto Rico. 

Please help PETA's ongoing efforts to keep monkeys out of laboratories by signing the White House petition to replace the U.S. Army's cruel training exercises using monkeys with modern human-patient simulators.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

This guy wasn't monkeying around when he and 300 animal defenders recently descended upon Guayama, Puerto Rico (aka "Pueblo de los Brujos" or "city of witches"), to condemn the proposed construction of a Bioculture monkey-breeding facility within city limits.

This plan is driving everyone—from PETA to local citizens—bananas because Bioculture reportedly wants to use the facility to breed wild monkeys and sell their babies for use in painful and cruel experiments. Even Guayama's mayor, Glorimari Jaime, is opposed to the facility's construction. Halfway through the protest, she came out of her office, stood on a bench, and told the group that she was on their side—and that she would support and join in civil disobedience with them.

The protest was picked up by media across the city, so my guess is that Puerto Rican governor Luis G. Fortuño has already caught wind of the public's outrage. Yesterday, we sent him a letter calling on him to halt consideration of the Bioculture facility—hopefully it will be the final nudge he needs to prevent its construction.

Our hats are off to the hundreds of caring people who have voiced their opposition to Bioculture—please join them.

Written by Karin Bennett