Tormented PETA ‘Monkey’ to Expose NIH Funding of Failed Animal Tests at Early Voting Site
For Immediate Release:
October 21, 2024
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
A giant PETA “monkey” representing Beamish, a monkey imprisoned and abused by National Institutes of Health (NIH) experimenters, will share the message “Save Me and $22 Billion: End NIH Animal Experiments!” outside early voting sites and a campaign rally led by former President Barack Obama and current vice presidential candidate Tim Walz in Madison, Wisconsin, urging officials to end the agency’s annual waste of billions of tax dollars on cruel and archaic experiments on animals.
NIH squanders nearly half its annual budget on experiments on animals—including those conducted in laboratories at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. Among other horrors, monkeys there have suffered from painful rectal prolapse and chronic diarrhea, including older monkeys who had persistent diarrhea for decades. The school has repeatedly been cited and fined for failing to comply with the minimal standards of the federal Animal Welfare Act.
PETA points out that 90% of basic research, most of which involves animals, fails to lead to effective treatments for humans and that 95% of new drugs that test safe and effective in animals eventually fail in humans, sometimes causing severe side effects such as anaphylaxis or even death.
“NIH torments and kills animals and throws billions down the drain every year on painful and pointless experiments that benefit no one,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA urges government officials to redirect taxpayers’ money to modern, human-relevant research that leaves animals in peace.”
Where: Starting at the Central Public Library, 201 W. Mifflin St., Madison, WI 53703. Moving to the Obama/Walz campaign rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum-1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, Madison, WI 53713
When: Tuesday, October 22, Central Public Library at 9:30 a.m. CST and outside the campaign rally at 11:30am to 1:30pm CST.
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.
Note: PETA supports animal rights, opposes all forms of animal exploitation, and educates the public on those issues. PETA does not directly or indirectly participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office or any political party.
