Bananas: Benicio Del Toro To Save Monkeys

Actor Benicio del Toro not only has an affinity for wolves, he is also a friend to monkeys. Del Toro has written a letter to Puerto Rico’s governor urging him to stop the construction of a monkey breeding facility Bioculture, a company that breeds primates for use in laboratory experiments. 

According to Peta, the monkeys that would be bred at this particular facility are captured in Mauritius and then taken to Puerto Rico to be raise and bred. 

Here’s a transcript of Benicio’s letter:

October 1, 2009 

The Honorable Luis G. Fortuño 

Governor of Puerto Rico 

Palacio de La Fortaleza 

San Juan, Puerto Rico 

 

Dear Governor Fortuño, 

I am disappointed to learn from my friends at PETA that a company called Bioculture is 

proposing to build a large monkey facility in Guayama, where it plans to breed thousands 

of these intelligent animals and lock them in cages before sending them off to 

laboratories around the world to be used in painful, deadly experiments. Won’t you 

please use your influence as governor and stop this from happening on our beautiful 

island?  

I have been informed that an international coalition of groups—including PETA, the 

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the Humane Society of the United 

States, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, and the International Primate 

Protection League—has formed to oppose the construction. Public opinion polls have 

also shown that most Puerto Ricans are strongly opposed to Bioculture’s plans.  

Even the mayor of Guayama, Glorimari Jaime, has expressed her concern: “If my people 

do civil disobedience against this [Bioculture] project, I will be there to support them. …  

I want you to know that I have never given a sign to endorse this project. Everything was 

done by the previous administration.” Please don’t allow Puerto Rico to be associated 

with a facility that profits from extreme animal abuse.  

Thank you for your time and attention. I can be reached through PETA’s Michelle Cho at 

*** *** ****, extension**, or *********. I look forward to your decision. 

Sincerely, 

 Benicio del Toro 

 
Very nicely done: Articulate, measured, well-researched. We’ll admit to being highly wary when we learned he was working in conjunction with Peta, mostly because of things like this.

We wonder, though, whether this will just mean that the Bioculture facility will just have to be moved someplace else should the governor agree with Del Toro and petitioners about the impact it will have on Puerto Rico. We shall see. 

Benicio del Toro Speaks Up for Monkeys [The Peta Files]