A revised cage cleaning policy was drafted shortly after the USDA inspector originally raised the issue. The policy was formulated and discussed with employees before the USDA inspector arrived for a return visit. It was dated for posting before that visit, but was signed and put on the bulletin board, with the original posting date, at the time of the visit. Cases for the special attention of the psychological well-being staff constitute about 13 percent of the caged population. The large majority of those cases involve over- grooming.
Grooming is a behavior that is natural to monkeys.
Approximately 2 percent exhibit self-injurious behavior. It is known that these behaviors are difficult to change after the animals become adults, but the incidence is greatly reduced by paired housing when the animals are young. The Center has had good results with pharmaceutical intervention for self-injurious behavior. The scientists rarely ever have contact with the monkeys at the Primate Center. Instead the science is left to the animal technicians, who know nothing about the studies or what is in the needle they are injecting into the animal.