State of Georgia Moves Against Monkey Warehouse Plan in Bainbridge: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
January 6, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding a motion filed by the district attorney for the South Georgia Judicial Circuit seeking to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Safer Human Medicine (SHM), which seeks to enforce its agreement with Decatur County authorities for a multi-million dollar sweetheart deal that will allow and incentivize the company to build a giant monkey breeding and holding facility in the City of Bainbridge:

District attorney for the South Georgia Judicial Circuit Joseph Mulholland has a finely-tuned deception detector and the guts to act on it. PETA applauds his just-filed motion to intervene to protect the public from a disastrous and unlawfully approved colossal monkey warehouse that residents vehemently oppose.

In his motion to intervene in the company’s lawsuit, Mulholland argues that the company and officials from the Decatur Country-Bainbridge Industrial Development Authority “have schemed to secure a favorable order from this Court so that the Authority can in essence shrug its shoulders and say that it had no choice but to move forward” with the project.

Safer Human Medicine filed the breach-of-contract case in federal court in February 2024 against the Development Authority, seeking an order requiring the Authority to fulfill its obligations under the Project Agreement and its tax abatement scheme or, alternatively, damages.

Mulholland says the State’s interests are not represented by either party in the case, reasoning that because “the Authority will not raise any real defenses to SHM’s claim, and that the Authority instead will consent to a judgment in this case so that development of [the project] may continue while limiting the public backlash it will face.” PETA stands with Bainbridge residents in opposing this monkey warehouse, which will harm animals, reduce property values, and likely spoil the rivers and lands surrounding it.

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.