Queen rocker Brian May is the latest star to sign up for a campaign to save baby monkeys from animal testing labs, calling on the U.K. government to "cut all ties" with the industry.
Officials at the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) is pressing for a ban on the international trade in monkeys for research, insisting current laws are not stringent enough to protect primates in the wild.
And animal-loving May has joined British funnyman Ricky Gervais in backing the campaign.
He says, "The imprisonment and abuse of wild animals must stop. BUAV has uncovered evidence of monkeys ripped from their jungle homes and families, and forced to produce babies who will be shipped to laboratories around the world. The U.K. plays a major part in allowing this cruel trade to continue by importing monkeys from countries such as Mauritius for British laboratories.
"On behalf of the Save-Me foundation, I call on the government to cut all ties with this cruel trade immediately, and fully support the BUAV's campaign to Stop the Baby Trade."