The U.S. Primate Research Battlefronts: Monkey escapes, Taxpayer Waste, and a Town’s Battle
In several primate research battlefronts, from escaped monkeys to government waste, the fight to end primate experimentation is gaining momentum across the United States
Los Angeles, February 23, 2025 — Across the United States, several battles are raging against the primate research industry — an industry that relies on secrecy, taxpayer money, and the suffering of tens of thousands of monkeys and apes. From shocking escapes to lawsuits against breeding facilities and budget battles in Washington, D.C., activists, scientists, and local communities are fighting back against what they see as a cruel and outdated practice. At the center of this fight is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which has uncovered repeated violations of animal welfare laws, dangerous disease outbreaks at research facilities, and an alarming waste of public funds. With new federal budget cuts targeting research spending, could the U.S. finally be on the brink of phasing out primate experimentation? UnchainedTV’s Jane Velez-Mitchell had a conversation with Amy Meyer and Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, two of PETA’s top primate experts, which you can watch here:
Monkey Escapes Expose Security Failures
In November of 2024, 43 monkeys escaped from a South Carolina research facility, Alpha Genesis, an NIH-funded lab with a history of violations. Some remained on the loose for months. A USDA inspection report cited the lab, but only for a non-critical violation — even though the monkeys were missing during freezing temperatures and could have posed serious risks to public health.
Amy Meyer, PETA’s primate experimentation associate director, said, “PETA, through a records request, has received the USDA inspection report about this incident. They did get cited with a violation for this, but it was only a non-critical violation. It’s wild to us that 43 monkeys can escape your property, some of them being gone for months, and when they did this inspection, there were still four who were unaccounted for; and they still said not a critical violation.”
Monkeys have also escaped from other NIH-funded facilities, including the University of Washington’s National Primate Research Center. Still, these institutions continue to receive millions of taxpayer dollars despite their repeated failures to maintain even basic security and animal welfare standards.
Watch This Video about Lab Monkey Escapes
The Georgia Showdown: A Town Resists a Massive Monkey Facility
While some monkeys are escaping, others are being bred in record numbers. In Bainbridge, Georgia, residents are fighting to stop Safer Human Medicine (SHM) from building a facility that would house 30,000 monkeys — most of whom would be shipped off to labs for experimentation. The facility would be built “…directly adjacent to residential properties,” say officials. The project, approved under murky circumstances, has sparked lawsuits and protests from locals who fear the environmental and ethical consequences.
PETA and Bainbridge’s residents argue that the facility, if built, would not only subject primates to horrific conditions but also threaten local water supplies and devastate property values.
The monkey breeding company has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit seeking to move forward with the project, which PETA contends included “…a multi-million dollar sweetheart deal” for the company. Now, the local D.A. is also fighting alongside local residents to derail the massive project. In a motion to intervene, Joseph Mulholland, the South Georgia Judicial Circuit District Attorney, noted there were “violations of the Open Meetings Act” and argued the Decatur Country-Bainbridge Industrial Development Authority, “schemed to secure a favorable order from this Court so that the Authority can in essence shrug its shoulders and say that it had no choice but to move forward” with the project. SHM is invited on any time to respond.
Watch a Podcast about this Crucial Case!
A Financially Wasteful and Scientifically Flawed Industry
Despite the suffering of sentient beings and safety risks, primate research continues to receive billions in federal funding. However, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is now facing major budget cuts — raising hopes that taxpayer money will no longer be wasted on cruel and ineffective animal experiments.
Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, PETA’s primate experimentation science advisor, explains:
“Even seeing people who are defenders of the NIH, they recognize a lot of the problems that the NIH has. There are other issues beyond the animals being tortured that concern people. There is duplication happening across the country. There is research misconduct happening that people are being caught for. There are all kinds of issues…There needs to be some significant reforms at the NIH… These universities are really powerful with local media, with local politicians, so it was not a surprise at all that we saw just the next business day, 22 states had joined this lawsuit to try to stop the cuts that are being proposed at the NIH.”
For decades, primate labs have been protected by massive funding streams, even though more than 95% of drugs tested on animals fail in human trials. Among the biggest recipients of NIH funding are the seven National Primate Research Centers, where monkeys are often subjected to extreme psychological distress, drug addiction experiments, and even maternal deprivation studies — practices that have been widely discredited by modern science.
Watch Another Video about PETA’s Work to Stop Laboratory Torture!
What Comes Next? A Call for Research Modernization
PETA has laid out a clear path forward with its Research Modernization Now plan, which outlines a strategy to replace primate testing with cutting-edge alternatives like organ-on-a-chip technology and AI-driven modeling.
“The science has moved on,” said Meyer. “We have far better methods now that don’t involve locking monkeys in cages and drilling into their skulls. The only thing keeping this industry alive is money and institutional inertia.”
The public is also waking up to the horrors of primate research, with increasing pressure on Congress to defund these programs. PETA is urging concerned citizens to visit PETA.org and take immediate action by contacting their representatives and demanding an end to taxpayer-funded primate torture.
As communities resist new breeding facilities, whistleblowers expose hidden abuses, and lawmakers question the value of animal testing, the U.S. is reaching a turning point. Will policymakers finally cut off the funding for this archaic industry? The battle is far from over — but momentum is shifting toward a future without animal suffering in the name of science.
We invite any of the parties mentioned in this article to comment at any time.
Watch This Video about a Former Animal Experimenter Now Devoted to Ending Vivisection!
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