silver spring monkeys silver spring monkeys the silver spring monkeys were 17 wild-born macaque monkeys from the philippines who were kept in the institute for behavioral research in silver spring, maryland. from 1981 until 1991, they became what one writer called the most famous lab animals in history, as a result of a battle between animal researchers, animal advocates, politicians, and the courts over whether to use them in research or release them to a sanctuary. within the scientific community, the monkeys became known for their use in experiments into neuroplasticity—the ability of the adult primate brain to reorganize itself. silver spring monkeysdomitian, one of the silver spring monkeys, in one of the images distributed by peta to newspapers.datemay 1981 (1981-05)locationinstitute for behavioral research, silver spring, maryland, u.s.first reporterthe washington postparticipantsedward taub, alex pacheco, ingrid newkirk, people for the ethical treatment of animalsoutcomeadvance in research into neuroplasticity and the treatment of strokes; first police raid on a u.s. laboratory; first criminal conviction for animal cruelty of a u.s. researcher (overturned); introduction of the 1985 animal welfare act; reported creation of the first animal liberation front cell in north americadeathsseventeen macaque monkeyschargesedward taub charged with 17 counts of animal cruelty and six of failing to provide adequate veterinary care.convictionstaub convicted on six counts, overturned on appeal. the monkeys had been used as research subjects by edward taub, a psychologist, who had cut afferent ganglia that supplied sensation to the brain from their arms, then used arm slings to restrain either the good or deafferented arm to train them to use the limbs they could not feel. in may 1981, alex pacheco of the animal-rights group people for the ethical treatment of animals (peta) began working undercover in the lab, and alerted police to what peta viewed as unacceptable living conditions for the monkeys. in what was the first police raid in the u.s. against an animal researcher, police entered the institute and removed the monkeys, charging taub with 17 counts of animal cruelty and failing to provide adequate veterinary care. he was convicted on six counts; five were overturned during a second trial, and the final conviction was overturned on appeal in 1983, when the court ruled that maryland's animal cruelty legislation did not apply to federally funded laboratories. the ensuing battle over the monkeys' custody saw celebrities and politicians campaign for the monkeys' release, an amendment in 1985 to the animal welfare act, the transformation of peta from a group of friends into a national movement, the creation of the first north american animal liberation front cell, and the first animal research case to reach the united states supreme court. in july 1991, peta's application to the supreme court for custody was rejected. days later, the last two monkeys were killed after veterinarians determined they were suffering and should be euthanized. during the subsequent dissection of the monkeys, it was discovered that significant cortical remapping had occurred, suggesting that being forced to use limbs with no sensory input had triggered changes in their brains' organization. this evidence of the brain's plasticity helped overturn the widely held view that the adult brain cannot reorganize itself in response to its environment. after five years of receiving death threats and being unable to find a research position, taub was offered a grant by the university of alabama, where he developed a new form of therapy, based on the concept of neuroplasticity, for people disabled as a result of brain damage. known as constraint-induced movement therapy, it has helped stroke survivors regain the use of limbs paralysed for many years, and has been hailed by the american stroke association as being at the forefront of a revolution. background animal testing main articles animal testing alternatives to animal testing animal testing regulations history of animal testing history of model organisms iacuc laboratory animal sources pain and suffering in laboratory animals testing cosmetics on animals toxicology testing vivisection testing on invertebrates frogs primates rabbits rodents issues medical research animal rights · animal welfare animals (scientific procedures) great ape research ban international primate trade cases brown dog affair cambridge university primates pit of despair silver spring monkeys ucr 1985 laboratory raid unnecessary fuss companies jackson laboratory charles river laboratories covance · harlan huntingdon life sciences uk lab animal suppliers nafovanny · shamrock farm groups/campaigns aalas · aaas · alf americans for medical progress boyd group · cruelty free international dr. hadwen trust foundation for biomedical research frame national anti-vivisection society new england anti-vivisection society peta · physicians committee for responsible medicine primate freedom project pro-test speak campaign · shac speaking of research understanding animal research writers/activists tipu aziz michael balls neal d. barnard colin blakemore simon festing gill langley ingrid newkirk bernard rollin jerry vlasak syed ziaur rahman categories animal testing animal rights animal welfare edward taub edward taub (born 1931) is a behavioral neuroscientist currently based at the university of alabama at birmingham. he became interested in behaviorism while studying philosophy at columbia university, and went on to study under fred keller and wiliam n. schoenfeld, the experimental psychologists. he took a job as a research assistant in a neurology lab to gain more understanding of the nervous system, and became involved in deafferentation experiments with monkeys. an afferent nerve is a sensory nerve that conveys impulses from the skin and other sensory organs to the spine and the brain. deafferentation is a surgical procedure in which the spinal cord is opened up and the sensory nerves cut so that these impulses do not reach the brain. a monkey whose limbs have been deafferented will not feel them, or even be able to sense where they are in space. at his trial in 1981, taub told the court that deafferented monkeys are notoriously difficult to look after, because they regard their deafferented limbs as foreign objects, mutilating them and trying to chew them off. taub continued working with deafferented monkeys at new york university, where he obtained his ph.d. in 1970. engaged in what he saw at first as pure research, he conducted several kinds of deafferentation experiments. he deafferented monkeys' entire bodies, so that they could feel no part of themselves. he deafferented them at birth. he removed monkey fetuses from the uterus, deafferented them, then returned them to be born with no sense of their own bodies. when taub began his research in the neurology lab, the prevalent view was that monkeys would not be able to use limbs they could not feel. norman doidge writes that taub wondered whether the reason the monkeys abandoned use of the deafferented limbs was simply that they were still able to use their good ones. he tested his idea by deafferenting one arm of a monkey and restraining the good arm in a sling. the monkey subsequently used its deafferented arm to feed and move itself around. he reasoned that, if a monkey refused to use a deafferented arm because it could rely on its good arm, then deafferenting both arms would force the monkey to use them, a finding that seemed paradoxical, but which his experiments confirmed. he even deafferented the entire spinal cord, so that the monkey received no sensory input from any of its limbs, but it still used them. doidge writes that taub had an epiphany, guessing that the reason the monkeys would not use their deafferented limbs was simply because they had learned not to, an idea he called "learned non-use". alex pacheco alex pacheco (born 1958) was a graduate student at george washington university when he volunteered in may 1981 to work as a research assistant in taub's lab. the washington post writes that he was raised in mexico, the son of a doctor, and wanted to become a priest. he took a tour of a slaughterhouse in the 1970s and said it changed his life; he read peter singer's animal liberation (1975), stopped eating meat, and became an animal rights activist. he worked on the anti-whaling ship, the sea shepherd conservation society, joined the hunt saboteurs association in england, and when he returned to the united states to study political science at george washington, he teamed up with ingrid newkirk, a local poundmaster, to form people for the ethical treatment of animals in march 1980. the point of taking the research position in taub's lab was to gain firsthand experience of what happens in animal research laboratories, so he looked through a list of government-funded labs and chose the one nearest his home in takoma park. taub offered him an unpaid position and put him to work with a student, georgette yakalis. the monkeys inside the institute for behavioral research, taub was conducting deafferentation experiments on 16 male crab-eating macaques (macaca fascicularis), and one female rhesus macaque (macaca mulatta), each about 36 centimetres (14 inches) tall, all born wild in the philippines. each monkey lived alone in a wire cage measuring 46 cm × 46 cm (18 in × 18 in), with no bedding, no food bowl, and no environmental enrichment, the cages kept in a windowless room measuring 4.6 m (15 ft) square. pacheco writes that 12 of the 17 monkeys had had one or both arms deafferented, while according to the laboratory primate newsletter 10 had undergone deafferentation, the seven others acting as the control group. the researchers had named the monkeys chester, paul, billy, hard times, domitian, nero, titus, big boy, augustus, allen, montaigne, sisyphus, charlie, brooks, hayden, adidas, and sarah. sarah, the lone female, was a control subject, which meant she had been left intact. she had been purchased from a dealer, litton laboratories, when she was one day old, and had lived since then, for eight years, in the institute. paul was the eldest. he had had one arm deafferented. he had chewed off all the fingers on that hand and pulled the skin and flesh off the palm, exposing the bone. billy had undergone surgery to deafferent both arms, and used his feet to pick up food pellets. police raid and charges pacheco's description of the laboratory pacheco wrote that he found the monkeys living in filthy conditions. he found frozen monkey corpses in a refrigerator, and others floating in formaldehyde. he alleged that, in the surgery room, human and monkey records were scattered everywhere, including under the operating table, while soiled clothes, old shoes, rat droppings, and urine covered the floor, with cockroaches in the drawers, on the floor, and around the scrub sink. he said the wires of the cages were caked in filth, with feces piled in the bottom of the cages, and urine and rust on every surface, with the 17 monkeys picking at scraps of food that had fallen through the wire floor of the cages into the waste tray below. he alleged that the cages had not been cleaned for months, that there were no dishes to keep the food away from the feces, and that there was nothing for the monkeys to sit on but the cages' wire bottoms. he wrote that 12 of the monkeys had deafferented limbs, with 39 of their fingers deformed or missing. he described them as neurotic, attacking their deafferented limbs as though they were foreign objects: no one bothered to bandage the monkeys' injuries properly (on the few occasions when bandages were used at all), and antibiotics were administered only once; no lacerations or self-amputation injuries were ever cleaned. whenever a bandage was applied, it was never changed, no matter how filthy or soiled it became. they were left on until they deteriorated to the point where they fell off the injured limb. old, rotted fragments of bandage were stuck to the cage floors where they collected urine and feces. the monkeys also suffered from a variety of wounds that were self-inflicted or inflicted by monkeys grabbing at them from adjoining cages. i saw discolored, exposed muscle tissue on their arms. two monkeys had bones protruding through their flesh. several had bitten off their own fingers and had festering stubs, which they extended towards me as i discreetly took the fruit from my pockets. with these pitiful limbs they searched through the foul mess of their waste pans for something to eat. informal inspections and raid pacheco decided to document the conditions in the lab. he told taub he