Progress! National Institutes of Health Suspends Primate Products’ Contracts
Primate Products, Inc., the notorious Florida-based primate dealer that imports, warehouses, and sells primates to be used in experiments, made millions of dollars selling monkeys and primate restraint equipment to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). But since a PETA investigation revealed that workers forced monkeys to suffer without necessary medical care, handled them violently, and even performed crude procedures on them (including tail amputations and tooth extractions) without proper training and while the animals weren’t adequately anesthetized, NIH has taken the rare step of suspending its contracts with the facility.
Following our investigation, NIH and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) opened their own investigations into Primate Products. The USDA cited the company with more than 25 violations of the Animal Welfare Act related to inadequate veterinary care, neglect, violent handling, and monkeys’ physical and psychological suffering. And now, federal inspectors have added even more citations after finding that parts in most of the facility’s cages needed to be repaired or replaced—including jagged and sharp surfaces that could injure monkeys—and that the facility was infested with insects and rodents, who can threaten the health of animals and employees.
How many more violations do Hendry County, Florida, officials need to see in order to shut this hellhole down? Hopefully none. PETA is running these powerful ads in Florida newspapers asking officials to end Primate Products’ abuse of monkeys today:
