PETA Uncovers, Condemns USDA’s Feeble Response to Alpha Genesis Monkey Escape

For Immediate Release:
February 12, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

In a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today, PETA blasts the agency for its blatant failure to hold Alpha Genesis, Inc. accountable for serious violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act after 43 rhesus macaques escaped. The agency cited the company for a single non-critical violation, making no mention of the harms the monkeys would have endured—even though the criteria for the more serious critical violation was met.

PETA obtained a copy of the USDA report, which has not been publicly released yet, through a Freedom of Information Act request to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which funds Alpha Genesis with $19 million in contracts.

Under the Animal Welfare Act, a critical violation causes “serious or severe adverse effects on an animal’s health and well-being,” according to the USDA. These conditions were undeniably met as the escaped macaques dodged cars, dogs, and wildlife, endured harsh weather conditions, and went without adequate food, water, and veterinary care while at large.

The November report obtained by PETA also suggests that federal inspectors did not even examine any of the 39 escaped monkeys after Alpha Genesis claimed they were “safely captured.” Instead, the agency appears to have taken the company at its word that they were in “good states of health,” despite the company’s history of noncompliance and obfuscation.

Furthermore, four monkeys were still unaccounted for when the USDA inspector signed off on the report, and a whistleblower reported to PETA that one escaped monkey was hit by a car and killed near the facility. But inspectors appear to have made no attempt to confirm the identities of the monkeys Alpha Genesis claimed it had recovered.

“Federal inspectors turning a blind eye to this reckless facility is a dereliction of duty,” says PETA Senior Science Advisor on Primate Issues Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. “The USDA failed to issue the critical violation that the escape of 43 vulnerable rhesus macaques clearly warranted, and PETA demands that federal officials stop protecting this negligent operation and enforce the law as they are required to do.”

Over the past decade, 109 macaques have escaped from Alpha Genesis, some of whom were never found. NIH continues to contract with the company despite its many violations.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.