By 
January 13th, 2016
London protest of Russia’s plan to send macaque monkeys to Mars.
Credit: PETA/UK
Russia’s interest in hurling four macaque monkeys to Mars in 2017 has sparked a protest outside the Russian Embassy in London.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) staged the event today, underscored by a PETA supporter — Samantha Bentley – body painted as a monkey, wearing a space helmet, and lying in a pool of blood to become a “Bleeding Space Monkey.”
The protest site, the Russian Embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens, London, also sported a sign next to a Russian flag: “Monkeys on Mars: One Giant Leap Backwards for Mankind.”
Other protesters called on Russia to use exclusively high-tech, 21st century space-exploration methods in its space program – not non-human primates.
Dark days of the space race
“If this experiment goes forward, Russia will return to the darkest days of the space race…a time when primates died horrifically from suffocation, overheating and impact,” explains Julia Baines, PETA Science Policy Advisor.
Credit: PETA/UK
“PETA is calling on the Russian Federal Space Agency,” Baines adds in a press statement, “to put a stop to this ill-advised suicide mission and be a true pioneer in modern-day space exploration.”
PETA has also sent a letter urging the Russian space agency to cancel the planned experiment.
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