Gateway To Hell Campaign

Gateway to Hell is an international volunteer campaign that aims to bring to the world’s attention the plight of the thousands of primates shipped around the globe to suffer and die in vicious and cruel experiments in animal testing labs. The campaign's targets are the airlines that transport primates to animal testing labs and the countries from were they are exported, particulary the Island of Mauritius and Nepal (with the Stop the Nepal Monkey Trade network).

Removing the airlines from the equation would cause large-scale disruption to the supply of laboratory animals, especially primates, in Europe and the rest of the world. Most air transport of laboratory animals is currently conducted by a small number of airlines. The main four are Air France, El Al, Aeroflot and Japan Airlines. Thanks to the efforts of Gateway to Hell campaigners, Air Mauritius has stopped exporting monkeys from the Island of Mauritius.

The island of Mauritius is one of the worlds largest exporters of primates to animal testing labs. Vast numbers of tourists holidaying on Mauritius are blissfully unaware that there are three monkey farms on the island where many thousands of monkeys await their fate. Many of these primates are caught in the wild and literally dragged from the jungle.

STOP THE NEPAL MONKEY TRADE is a global network of activists who oppose the breeding and export of Nepalese rhesus monkeys to US primate centers. In 2003 the Nepalese government issued the Wildlife Farming, Breeding and Research Policy, opening the door for US primate centers and other commercial ventures to prey on Nepal's wildlife.

Although Nepal declared a ban on the export of monkeys to vivisection laboratories on 25 August 2008, the campaign is not over yet. Whilst the monkeys are now safe from export, there are still American funded research facilities in Nepal, and the monkeys intended for export to the USA are still caged in the breeding facilities.

The Gateway to Hell campaign demands that the Nepalese government passes strict laws to legislate the rights of these monkeys, including a ban on export, breeding and experimentation on monkeys for biomedical research, and the immediate release of all 250 captured monkeys still caged at the breeding farm in Lele. We want the monkeys to be rehabilitated and released back into the wild.

There are regular peaceful demonstrations at Mauritian and Nepali embassies around the world. Please join them or organise one yourself!

Targets in Switzerland:

Honorary Consulate General of Nepal Asylstr. 81 8030 Zurich Switzerland Tel: (+41-1) 2615993 Fax: (+41-1) 2519152

Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations Rue de la Servette 81 1201 Geneva Switzerland Tel: (+41-22) 7332600, 7332621 Fax: (+41-22) 7332722 E-Mail: mission. nepal@itu.ch

H. E. Mr J. MEETOO Charge d'Affaires (A. i.) Mauritius Mission to the United Nations 10 Rue le Corbusier 1202 Geneva Switzerland Tel: (41 22) 734 8550 Fax: (41 22) 734 8630

From the website of the campaign: www.gatewaytohell.net