Primate Products Drops Lawsuit Filed to Keep Records Secret
Monkey Supplier’s Decision to Dismiss Lawsuit Follows Court Ruling Allowing PETA to Intervene
Primate Products, Inc. (PPI) has backed out of its lawsuit that sought to prevent the state of Florida from releasing public records about the monkeys the Hendry County dealer sells or transfers to laboratories or other facilities. The company’s voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit comes after a judge ruled that PETA could intervene and denied PPI’s first attempt at a judgment in its favor.
In 2014 and 2015, PETA documented abuse and neglect of monkeys at PPI, which led the U.S. Department of Agriculture to cite the facility for at least 25 violations of animal-welfare regulations. An investigation by the USDA’s Investigative and Enforcement Service is ongoing.
When PETA filed a public-records request with the state of Florida for the veterinary certificates of monkeys sold or transferred from the facility, PPI sued the state to prevent the release of these public forms.
“Now we may be able to find out what happened to monkeys like Loretta, who plucked out her own hair after she was housed in a dangerous social grouping and attacked by other monkeys,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “The records have always been—and should remain—available to the public.”
