‘Safer Human Medicine’ Has No Say in Bainbridge Residents’ Business: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
July 17, 2024

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding the Decatur County Superior Court hearing held yesterday in which Safer Human Medicine, the company behind a plan to build a massive monkey-breeding and -holding facility, argued that it should be allowed to intervene in a lawsuit brought by residents of Bainbridge against numerous public bodies that had approved the proposal:

Safer Human Medicine (SHM) wants to intervene in a case it has no part in. This case concerns public agencies that hadn’t complied with the state’s open meetings law when voting in favor of the plan to open a massive monkey-breeding facility, which the county’s commissioners and tax assessor have admitted.

Bainbridge residents learned at the hearing that SHM never even signed the tax agreement that it argues entitles it to tens of millions in tax abatements. It’s also highly irregular that the attorney who represents the city and the development authority, Michael Kozlarek, also served as bond counsel and is therefore likely to receive a hefty payment from SHM—but only if the revenue bonds are issued, a disturbing apparent conflict of interest.

The company’s sense of entitlement is breathtaking. It wants to set up shop in a community that doesn’t want it, exploit 30,000 monkeys, and pollute the local waterways, and it wants the community to pay for it. It’s clear to everyone in the courtroom that SHM is not the most important party here—the residents of Bainbridge are.

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.