Video: Animal Ally Crashes UMass Chancellor’s Inauguration to Plead for End to Monkey Torment

For Immediate Release:
April 26, 2024

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Incoming University of Massachusetts–Amherst (UMass) Chancellor Javier Reyes had an unexpected guest at his inauguration: a PETA supporter who interrupted the ceremony today to deliver a heartfelt plea for him to stop the cruel and pointless experiments on tiny marmoset monkeys conducted in the laboratory of experimenter Agnès Lacreuse. The protester stood in front of Reyes and the audience, pleading for him to use his authority to end the marmoset experiments, before being ushered away by security. Photos and video of the disruption are available here.

“Lacreuse’s demented and deadly experiments haven’t helped a single human,” says PETA neuroscientist Dr. Katherine Roe. “PETA is calling on Chancellor Reyes to shut down this shameful lab and is urging the school to switch to modern, animal-free research methods that are actually relevant to human health.”

Inside Lacreuse’s lab, experimenters screw electrodes onto monkeys’ skulls, surgically remove their ovaries, pump them full of hormones, and heat their bodies with hand warmers to mimic hot flashes in a bizarre attempt to study menopause, which marmosets don’t naturally experience. Experimenters also cut into their necks, deprive them of water, restrain them for hours at a time with zip ties, and torment them in other ways. Lacreuse has squandered more than $5 million in taxpayer funds on these curiosity-driven tests.

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.