New Delhi, July 10 (IANS) Amid the humdrum of daily life near the busy Connaught Place area of central Delhi, a man dressed in a monkey costume distributing bananas to passersby Friday caught everyone’s attention. The act was an attempt by PETA urging the government to intervene and free animals “languishing” in the AIIMS animal facility.
According to a news report a few months back, animals like monkeys, mice and guinea pigs which have been brought to the animal facility at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for research have been kept in poor condition and caged for years altogether.

This, the report stated, was very much against the guidelines set by the government body that supervises experiments on animals - Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision on Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA).

“However, despite our repeated attempts, our pleas to do something about the matter have fallen on deaf ears,” N.G. Jayasimha of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said.

“We have written endless letters to the officials at the AIIMS central animal facility and to those at CPCSEA. The latter directed us to the ministry of health and family welfare and we wrote to them too. But each time one directs us to the other. We are not even allowed to protest outside AIIMS,” he said.

To draw attention towards the issue and gain public support thus, activists of PETA used this unique idea to protest.

“It’s time the government and AIIMS stop monkeying around the issue,” Jayasimha said.