PETA Statement: Charles River Laboratories Neglects to Mention New SEC Probe During Earnings Call

For Immediate Release:
August 10, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding the investigation by the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to Charles River Laboratories’ sourcing of nonhuman primates in Asia, revealed in its second-quarter earnings report:

Despite investors’ probing questions into Charles River Laboratories’ business during its second-quarter presentation yesterday, CEO James Foster never once acknowledged a new investigation into its monkey sourcing from Asia by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Documents that PETA obtained this week show that from January to June 2023, Charles River brought into the U.S. nearly 35,000 biological samples (which can include blood and tissue) derived from long-tailed macaques, who are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and as Appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. These animals had originally been imported live from Cambodia to Canada in an apparent circumvention of the current ban on importing these monkeys into the U.S. This evidence further demonstrates that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Justice should act now to send the 1,269 monkeys who have been held in limbo for up to a year to an accredited sanctuary.

The new SEC inquiry began the day after PETA and Action for Primates publicly notified Canadian officials that Charles River had recently shifted to importing monkeys to Canada.

PETA celebrates Charles River’s acknowledgement that it will need to “conduct meaningfully” fewer monkey experiments in the U.S. and urges it to use this pivotal moment to invest in more non-animal research rather than more monkey experimentation in China. As Foster acknowledged while touting the company’s global infrastructure for primates, “Nothing is forever.”

For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.