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Protests free monkeys from cages
A SHEFFIELD-based animal rights organisation is celebrating today after 88 monkeys, destined for experiments in South America, were saved.
The capuchin monkeys have been flown to England six weeks after huge International Animal Rights Day protests initiated and coordinated by Sheffield animal protection group Uncaged.
Mass marches were staged last December through the centre of Santiago in Chile, finishing at the Universidad Cat"lica where a primate research centre was based.
Six weeks later news broke that the centre was to close, and the centre's 88 monkeys were flown to Monkey World in Dorset by a Chilean Air Force plane, arriving last Tuesday.
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The monkeys, aged between two and 30, had been kept in small cages in a lab, some of them in solitary confinement for up to 20 years. All spent years only being taken out for medical experiments and never seeing daylight.
Dr Alison Cronin, the director of Monkey World, said the animals had "lots of psychological and potentially medical problems" and will need to be rehabilitated before settling into social groups at the sanctuary's Capuchin Lodge.
Capuchins can be found in the wild in Central and South America, where they live in groups of around 35. They have a life expectancy of more than 30 years.
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: -3 C to 0 C
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