PETA Celebrates Charles River Laboratories’ 25% Decline in Monkey Use, Demands Release of 1,269 Endangered Macaques

Please see the following statement from PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding Charles River Laboratories’ third-quarter earnings call today, during which the company revealed that it will reduce its use of monkeys this year by 25%:

PETA is encouraged by a revelation during Charles River Laboratories’ third-quarter earnings call this morning that the company is on target to use an astonishing 25% fewer monkeys globally in 2023, a dramatic reduction because “the industry is changing” and non-animal methods are the future. This follows PETA’s work to expose the failure of experiments on monkeys to lead to human cures, the passage of the FDA Modernization Act, and the development of technologically advanced animal-free research methods.

This demonstrable pivot in the use of monkeys in experiments begs the question why Charles River would set up a shell company under another name and formed by some of its top officials to purchase land in a secluded area of Texas in order to build a new monkey importation, quarantine, and breeding facility.

PETA now repeats our demand that Charles River release 1,269 endangered long-tailed macaques, some of whom have languished in the company’s facilities in Frederick, Maryland, and Houston for more than a year. These monkeys can never be used for experimentation, and the company’s $1.03 billion third-quarter revenue could easily support their lifetime retirement at a reputable sanctuary.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.