Pop-Up Art Showcase Near UW to Rally Students to Demand Primate Lab’s Closure

For Immediate Release:
October 21, 2024

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

A pop-up multimedia showcase at UHeights on Wednesday will display several provocative PETA pieces aimed at educating students and residents about failings of the University of Washington’s Washington National Primate Research Center, where monkeys are caged, tormented, and killed in cruel and pointless experiments.

The showcase will feature thought-provoking art pieces, including work created by the Colombian street artist Praxis, that PETA has used in its campaign against the primate lab. An award-winning virtual reality experience from peta2—part of PETA’s youth division—that puts visitors in the place of animals in laboratories, as well as an animated video that shows the plight of Dorothy, an elderly monkey who suffered in experiments until her frail, diseased body collapsed, will also be played.

“Many students and community members aren’t aware that over the past 60 years, the University of Washington’s cruel and incompetent primate lab has imported and bred thousands of monkeys for use in deadly, misleading experiments,” says PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones–Engel. “PETA urges the public to join its call for the university to shut down this failed center and release the monkeys to reputable sanctuaries, where they’ll be given the safety and dignity that they deserve.”

Where: UHeights, Room 209, 5031 University Way N.E., Seattle

When: Wednesday, October 23, 4 p.m.

Attendees will be invited to enter a raffle for a free PETA shirt designed by Praxis and to fill out postcards that will be delivered to the UW Board of Regents at the end of the year. Free pizza from Pi Vegan Pizzeria will be served while supplies last.

Why: For more than 60 years, the Washington National Primate Research Center has infected, tormented, and killed monkeys; wasted taxpayer funds; repeatedly violated the federal Animal Welfare Act; and failed the scientific community. Thousands of animals have died there, including monkeys who were strangled, starved, or mauled by other stressed monkeys. Others choked on their own vomit, had their limbs mangled, were given the wrong drugs, or died from uncontrolled diarrheal diseases.

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 the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.