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Primate protests grow in Spain
Local protests against a new primate breding centre in nothern Spain have grown over the last few months.
A new primate breeding facility built in Northern Spain by the long-established Mauritian company Centre de Recherches Primatologiques (CRP) is facing increased protests as it opens for business.
It took CRP five years to build its new centre in the Basque region. The initial application for planning approval, made in 1999, was refused after protests by residents in the nearby town of Camarles and local animal rights groups. However, after careful negotiations with the regional government and a number of changes to their plans, CRP secured permission to construct the facility. Once construction began, the campaigning increased with several national animal rights groups becoming involved, some local politicians aligning themselves with the protesters and even some international groups mounting campaigns against the facility.
Despite this opposition, the new facility, known as Novoprim, was finished last year and took delivery of the first batch of animals, which sparked a new wave of protest. The Altarriba Foundation, based in Barcelona, is urging people to write to Pasqual Maragall, president of the autonomous Catalonian government, asking him to prevent the animals from being sold for research, although it is unclear whether the imported macaques are intended for resale or as a breeding nucleus.