Lisa Jones-Engel is a primatologist.
Primatologist Lisa Jones-Engel, PhD, is a Fulbright scholar who has studied the human-primate interface for more than 40 years. Her scientific career has spanned the field, the research laboratory, and the undergraduate classroom. Dr. Jones-Engel is a senior science adviser on primate experimentation with PETA’s Laboratory Investigations Department.
Dr Lisa Jones-Engel was en route to the Bangladeshi village of Dhamrai with her research team when she saw a man in his early 30s, walking down the side of the dusty road and carrying a canvas bag, who would change the direction of her work for the next nine years.
The global trade in nonhuman primates represents a substantial threat to ecosystem health, human health, and primate conservation worldwide. Most of the primate trade involves trade for pet-keeping, consumption, or biomedical experimentation. We present an overview of international primate trade through five case studies; each describes a different facet of this trade. We draw on published scientific literature, media outlets, and open access datasets, including the CITES Trade Database to build these case studies.
In 2022, long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), a once ubiquitous primate species, was elevated to Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. In 2023, recognizing that the long-tailed macaque is threatened by multiple factors: (1) declining native habitats across Southeast Asia; (2) overutilization for scientific, commercial, and recreational purposes; (3) inadequate regulatory mechanisms; and (4) culling due to human–macaque conflicts, a petition for rulemaking was submitted to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to add the species to the US Endangered Species Act, the nation's most effective law to protect at risk species. The long-tailed macaque remains unprotected across much of its geographical range despite the documented continual decline of the species and related sub-species and the recent IUCN reassessment. This commentary presents a review of the factors that have contributed to the dramatic decline of this keystone species and makes a case for raising the level of protection they receive.
As a primate scientist, believing that she could change the system from within, Lisa Jones-Engel accepted a seat on the institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) that is required by law to review all proposed animal experiments and ensure that animal protection laws are enforced. But the University of Washington’s IACUC was rubber-stamping experiments, no matter how poorly designed or cruel – giving experimenters the greenlight to, among other things, restrain monkeys in dark booths for up to 10 hours, separate mothers and babies, and implant devices in monkeys’ skulls, eyes, and limbs. Whenever she raised a concern, the IACUC shut me down.
One day, while collecting various samples from monkeys in Bangladesh, she had an encounter that changed everything.
A growing concern in Southeast Asian countries is the interface between long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and human beings (Homo sapiens) and the consequences that this sympatric relationship brings to the affected human communities and macaque populations. A variety of potential negative and positive consequences exist in zones of interface for both humans and macaques. As a result, the relationship between M. fascicularis and humanity has become a recent focus for academics and NGOs worldwide. In addition, regional governments, whose citizens have expressed concern about the disturbances caused by living closely with macaques, have attempted or are newly initiating programs to manage or reduce populations of macaques living alongside people. The occurrence of human–macaque overlap is not isolated to a few exceptional locations, but rather macaque synanthropy is a widespread phenomenon existing in regions all throughout peninsular and insular Southeast Asia. In this volume, we begin to build a more comprehensive understanding of long-tailed macaque populations and the extent of their overlap with humans.
In celebration of International Macaque Day, the Asia for Animals podcast features quick macaque tales from a variety of macaque people: a new, personal story each day! Today we hear from Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, Senior Science Advisor, PETA.
It is heartbreaking to hear what is done to these thousands of monkeys brought into the U.S. It is also extremely dangerous to us, and we'll find out why in this episode.
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Lisa Jones-Engel used to consider herself a scientist, not some silly monkey-hugger. But in 2019 she took a drastic and irrevocable step: she said yes to a job at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) as a senior science adviser, a move she never would have predicted when she started her career. Furthermore, she made herself a promise: she would shut down the country’s seven remaining primate centers within the next 10 years.