Millionaire Spends Stunning Amount of Money to Save 1,400 Monkeys From Medical Experimentation

[Omaha Steve]

Last edited Fri Jan 9, 2015, 02:49 PM - Edit history (1)

Philanthropist Ady Gil is now raising money for the animals’ long-term care in Israel.


Photo: Facebook)
January 08, 2015 By John R. Platt

John R. Platt covers the environment, technology, philanthropy, and more for Scientific American, Conservation, Lion, and other publications.


http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/01/08/millionaire-saves-1400-monkeys-medical-experimentation?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2015-01-08

More than 1,400 macaque monkeys have been saved from a lifetime of potentially cruel and painful medical experiments after businessman and animal rights activist Ady Gil paid $2 million to purchase them. The move ends nearly 20 years of active protests against an Israeli breeding facility that until recently supplied the monkeys to laboratories around the world.

Gil, who lives in Los Angeles and made his fortune providing video technology services to Hollywood, first heard about Mazor Farm during his biennial visits to Israel. He said the protests against the facility have been in the headlines there for years.

“If you’re in the animal movement in Israel, you know about it,” said Gil, who has been a financial supporter of environmental group Sea Shepherd’s efforts to stop Japanese whalers.

Mazor Farm, located half an hour from Tel Aviv, was close to shutting down because of to a ban on the export of wild animals from Israel that goes into effect this month. Gil’s purchase of the animals derailed a last-minute plan to ship most of them to breeding facilities and medical labs in the United States.

FULL story at link.

[xchrom]

1. du rec.

[hunter]

2. Good. I'm not against all animal testing, but so much of it is not ethical...

... merely pushed by military interests, commercial interests, or unnecessarily competitive "publish or perish" academic environments.

Ethical standards for monkey research ought to approach "first world" standards for human research, and in some ways ought to be stricter, recognizing the fact that monkeys cannot volunteer to participate in medical experiments.

[packman]

3. Hey, it's a good thing

better than spending it on gold-plated golf clubs or a million dollar a year club membership. Kudos to him - now let him spend some money on the cruel and painful experiences of the homeless, the starving, or the abused humans. Still - good .

[niyad]

4. k and r. look at those wonderful beings!

[dhill926]

5. good for him….

[Recursion]

6. Monkeys, you say? (nt)

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. For a moment there I thought it was uncle Bertie, his wife and kids.

[Omaha Steve]

12. .

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Now there's a man putting money to good use. Bet he sleeps well.

[narnian60]

9. +100

[shenmue]

10. So that's who Sea Shepherd named the boat after!

I love "Whale Wars."

What Ady Gil did was awesome.

[F4lconF16]

17. Is that show any good?

Tt type of show has never been my cup of tea, but I keep hearing good things about it, so I might have to check it out.

[shenmue]

18. Yes

It's very exciting.

[napkinz]

11. K&R

[hedda_foil]

13. Those macaques look so intelligent.

Their eyes and facial expressions look as human as any of us. And they live in extremely large groups of 100 or more.

[Live and Learn]

16. +1 nt

[Beringia]

14. great

Also great that Israel is banning export of wild animals.

[Enthusiast]

15. Kicked

and recommended a whole bunch!