On World Day for Laboratory Animals, a group of animal activists is protesting the treatment of monkeys.

Animal Defenders International (ADI) is organizing a petition signed by more than 15,000 people that calls for the federal regulators to ban experiments on monkeys.

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“As a progressive global power, the U.S. should be leading the way in phasing out primate tests,” said ADI President Jan Creamer.

“It’s absurd in this modern age to take these intelligent, sensitive individuals from the wild and breed them for cruel and outdated experiments.”

The activists said more than 70,000 monkeys each year are the subjects of “brutal” experiments at U.S. laboratories, including nearly 20,000 of which are imported into the country by monkey traders.

These monkey are “manhandled by workers, who swing them by their tails, pin their arms behind their backs and subject them to painful procedures,” the activists say.

“ADI investigations have revealed monkeys suffering blocked lungs, trembling, collapsing and bleeding before being killed,” the activists say.