Monkeys, specifically monkeys who are being used in biomedical research, have been in the news frequently lately.
A few years ago, I wrote about a truck carrying 100 monkeys that overturned in Pennsylvania, spilling crates of primates onto a highway. I would not have guessed then that “escaped lab monkeys” would become almost commonplace in the years following that incident.
Late last year, 43 young female rhesus macaques at Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee, South Carolina left their cages and the perimeter fence of the facility when a gate was left open. Some of them survived for months outside, with the last one captured in January.
More recently, on October 28th, a pickup truck pulling a trailer containing 21 crated macaques overturned in rural Mississippi. The initial news reports indicated that no one claimed ownership of these monkeys who were apparently being transported from one facility to another. Finally, almost a week after the crash, PreLabs, LLC released a statement confirming that the monkeys belonged to them.
In that statement, they also cleared up misinformation that had been spread about the health status of the monkeys. Apparently, the county sheriff initially described the monkeys as dangerous and carrying diseases based on what the driver of the truck told him. Citizens took this warning to heart–two of the monkeys were shot and killed when residents spotted them.
I want to first raise the question of whether it’s even appropriate to describe any of these monkeys as “escaped” when their being “loose” was the result of errors or accidents on the part of human beings. Virtually nothing in their lives has been their choice, including ending up on the side of a highway. In a very interesting in-depth New Yorker article focused on the Yemassee Alpha Genesis facility, the author shares the opposite point, characterizing monkeys in captivity as being preoccupied with getting out of the cages they are confined to, so there’s certainly different ways of looking at the volition of the monkeys who end up in the news as escapees.
Though there has been an uptick in these incidents in the last few years, lab monkeys on the loose is not an entirely new phenomenon.
There is a colony of vervet monkeys living freely today in Florida who were genetically traced to monkeys originally from Africa who “escaped” from the Dania Chimpanzee Farm in the 1940s where they were being sold for biomedical and military research.
The recent incidents have shined a light on a the industry using monkeys in invasive research, which is a good thing. People are asking where these monkeys are coming from and how are they being used within these facilities. There have been investigations into how the demand for monkeys in the United States for medical testing has led to the illegal capture of monkeys from the wild. The solution from within the industry to this problem has been a call to increase the breeding of monkeys within the U.S., but the proposed construction of new breeding facilities has thankfully been met with push-back.
Things are changing.
In April, the FDA announced that it will phase out all animal testing for certain drugs and therapies, replacing animal testing with more sophisticated methods. And just last week, the CDC announced it will no longer use monkeys in the research that it conducts.
It’s important to note that the FDA announcement is significant and unprecedented, but still cautious in its approach and it doesn’t equate to the end of animal testing for all drugs.
The CDC announcement appears to impact 200 macaques reportedly currently in use by the CDC. That’s a very small number of monkeys compared to the tens of thousands being used across other government agencies and private institutions, but it is indicative of the shift that is happening.
It’s an open question where these monkeys being used by the CDC would go, though the article states that Peaceable Primate Sanctuary was contacted by the agency and is willing to work on a solution, given enough funding.
As I said back in 2022, we will be providing a home for monkeys in the future, like other sanctuaries are now. And maybe, just maybe, that day when we can all celebrate the last monkeys in biomedical research in the U.S. going to their sanctuary home will come much sooner than I dreamed.
This photo J.B. took today of a rainbow over Jody’s statue seemed to be the perfect visual accompaniment to this news.
I will bet you anything that there’s a rhesus macaque named Jody in a lab right now who was used as a breeder and research subject.
She deserves sixteen years of sanctuary life just like our Jody had.
Thank you, Diana, for this quite relevant post. As with great ape species, the mistreatment of monkeys — in the medical laboratory world, in “entertainment” (sic), and as household pets — needed to end years ago.
And, thank you for posting the photograph of the statue of Jody. I had not seen that before.
It broke my heart to see the Mississippi macques. Their transport looked like fruit crates. And the news characterized them as dangerous and deadly. So very sad how their lives were used snd ended.
We all knew primate research would not end once chimps were saved. Now, we have hundreds and hundreds of smaller primates in labs and the breeding continues.
Let’s hope for more rainbows over more sanctuaries where primates can sleep peacefully.
Thanks for the view of the statue, Diana, new to me, as well. The sanctuary the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
I only recently learned that north of the Florida vervets, there are rhesus monkeys living in Silver Springs, the result of a failed tourist attraction in the 1930s. (The owner didn’t know that rhesus are actually capable of swimming, and therefore could not be contained to one island). The video was taken by a woman who was kayaking with her husband, when suddenly, rhesus monkeys rained down upon the spring, cannonballing into the water around her, splashing and calling out to each other as they moved to a new island and a new food source. While lots of people in the comments were horrified, I, like the woman in the kayak, was laughing hysterically. It’s not where they were meant to be, but they’re living free and enjoying themselves.
What a horrendous post…..when will humans ever learn? It just blows my mind to think that we are so far into the 21st century and we re still more barbaric than the vast majority of animals. There should be some accountability for those people making the decisions to do this awful research when there are so many other ways of doing testing these days. Lock them up in tiny cages, not cushy prisons!
Thank you Diana,
these stories break my heart.
I think if people could see them as individuals, instead of “things” to be used, the world would be a better place.
We all know the Chimps at CSNW by who they are as unique beings, we could never be ok with how they were used and abused before.
I’m sure the same is true for these Monkey’s too. :revolving_hearts:
just more reason why I prefer the company of animals to humans.This breaks my ?. Thank God for for the sanctuary here and the love and care our cousins receive.Thank all so much.
“And maybe, just maybe, that day when we can all celebrate the last monkeys in biomedical research in the U.S. going to their sanctuary home will come much sooner than I dreamed.” ……..Amen!
Seeing Jody under a full rainbow arch warms my heart. I’d like to think that rainbow is always there. Thank you for sharing this beautiful photo of Jody‘s special resting place.
And thank you, Diana, for this post. It will be interesting to see what the NIH actually chooses to do with their 200 macaques. I am worried about their fate. Unfortunately, while I applaud the decision to not experiment on animals of any kind, I have little faith in the NIH decision making since those in charge are derelict in knowledge and experience on this matter. The NIH can’t simply announce they’ll be done with the 200 macaques by the end of the year. There needs to be a detailed plan in place because we do not need these macaques languishing in a dark basement. In a just world, the NIH would be responsible for funding the 14 million needed to build the new facility to house the macaques and add new staff at the Peaceable Primate Sanctuary. I fear the NIH might find it easier to send these macaques off to another laboratory, perhaps to the highest bidder. Time will tell and I’ll try to hold onto Hope.
On an entirely different note…In the late 1970s, I had a friend who lived in Fort Lauderdale next to the Bonnet House (located within the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park). In the late 1930’s the owners wife, Evelyn Bartlett, brought in Brazilian squirrel monkeys to live throughout the property. As time passed, they formed family groups with the monkeys supposedly numbering 30 to 40. In the late 1970s and early 80s there was an open air bar called the Monkey Bar that we used to visit. The bar was situated directly along the property line of the park. Patrons of the bar would unfortunately feed the curious monkeys that were living on the Bonnet House property causing some of the monkeys to remain in close proximity to the bar. It was strange to be sitting outside sipping on a cocktail while watching the monkeys climb and leap and swing about in groups up in the trees on the other side of the wall. Today, the Bonnet House and property has become a museum and supposedly, as late as 2014, three of the monkeys still lived within the trees. Crazy, right?! Can’t make this stuff up.
That’s wild about the squirrel monkeys. I hadn’t heard about that one!