Debra Durham spent the better part of three years in a tent in the rainforest of Madagascar. Her companions were a few Malagasy colleagues who helped her with her doctoral research. Her passion was the primates she was there to study.

She later brought what she learned back to the U.S. as a primatologist and applied it to the treatment of animals, specifically primates, within laboratory settings.

Now, Durham will bring that knowledge to the University.

Students Protecting Animals Responsibly and Compassionately will bring Durham to campus tonight to speak on behalf of the primate population used in animal testing.

According to Irene Rindos, a junior in natural resources and English and president of SPARC, this is an important issue students should be concerned about. She said SPARC worked with Beth Levine of Stop the Exploitation of Research and Animals In the Triangle to bring Durham to speak at the Universtiy. Rindos said Durham was initially speaking in Durham, but SERAT contacted SPARC about getting her to a second campus.

Durham is employed by PETA, an international animal rights organization. She is their primate specialist, and said she first became interested in primate behavior as an undergraduate at the University of Washington.

“I actually worked in a lab where they did experiments on primates,” Durham said.

She said caged primates developed behavioral pathologies because of their living conditions.

According to Durham, many of the adult primates would mutilate themselves, banging their heads against the cages and pace around and around. She said some would even bite off their own fingers.

She said these captive creatures were what drove her to study primates in their natural habitat.

After earning her doctorate in primatology through her years spent researching in Madagascar, Durham returned to the States to put her theories to work.

“It really was heartbreaking to go from watching the normal [primate] behavior that was absolutely fascinating to come back and work with animals who are being tortured in laboratories,” Durham said.

She said she tries to share her experiences with the groups she speaks to. According to Durham, the most effective part of her presentation is one of the videos she shows the audience. It is the same video that moved her to immediately accept her job proposal from PETA a year and a half ago.

She said in the video, a baby primate is being gripped around the neck by a laboratory worker. The worker shoves the baby’s head back so a large tube can be put down its throat. Durham said the baby begins to smack its lips at this point as a sign of submission. According to Durham, the primate is “begging for mercy.”

One of the reasons Durham said she is speaking at Duke is because PETA has recently gotten information about USDA violations of animal welfare at the university. She said during an inspection by the USDA, they discovered the experimental facilities had repeatedly underreported their animal use. Facilities are supposed to count every animal used in testing, according to Durham.

She said in the last year alone Duke reported 97 dogs tested on when they had in fact used 110, and 14 primates when the actual numeber discovered by the USDA was 62.

“If the basic record keeping is that far off, I’m concerned about the animals,” Durham said. “Is their well-being being considered?”

Durham said she had not seen any N.C. State reports from the USDA.

Rindos, a vegan since high school, said she has been involved with SPARC since her freshman year. She said that while the organization has a core group of 11 or 12 members, there are more people who come out to events.

Durham said she hopes that by spreading the word of animal cruelty she can help institute a change.

“Coming from high school I was a vegan, and I had a friend who told me about SPARC,” she said.

Durham expressed her compassion for captive animals and their treatment from humans.

“Protection for captive animals is the same ethical paradigm — that animals should be free from pain and suffering — that they shouldn’t suffer at the hands of human beings.”