Decatur County Commissioners Reverse Course on Sweetheart Deal for Giant Monkey Prison After Pressure From Residents and PETA

For Immediate Release:
February 13, 2024

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-738

Bainbridge, Ga. –

Please see the following statement from PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding today’s unanimous vote of the Decatur County Board of Commissioners to cancel a $58 million incentive package for Safer Human Medicine to build the largest monkey warehouse in the U.S., after approving the package in an illegal vote in December:

What we saw today was not just the reversal of a poor decision but also the power of people collectively acting in their own best interests and reminding their elected leaders whom they work for. PETA is proud to stand with the residents of Decatur County and Bainbridge as they continue to fight this calamitous proposal because they know a bad deal when they see one and they’re unafraid to speak truth to power.

This monkey prison is sickening on its face. It also threatens to sicken the residents of Decatur County in addition to the monkeys it would imprison and shuttle to laboratories to be tormented for the remainder of their short, terrifying lives in experiments that wouldn’t aid human health.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.