Violence, Amputations in UGA Monkey Labs Lead to Federal Action

For Immediate Release:
September 12, 2024

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna regarding new citations issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture against the University of Georgia for three separate violations—two critical—of the federal Animal Welfare Act because negligence by staffers resulted in the amputation of two fingers on one monkey and a 2-centimeter-long laceration on the perineum of another after stressed monkeys normally held in solitary confinement were able to access one another. Staff also left overhead lights on for 24 hours a day for seven full months in rooms where primates were caged:

Monkeys held inside University of Georgia laboratories have to fear not only the violence of pointless experiments but also the crushing ineptitude of staffers—further proof that the university has no business holding animals in the first place. PETA calls on university officials to shut down the school’s animal facilities and redirect its taxpayer funding—nearly $59 million so far this year alone—to superior, non-animal methods outlined in our Research Modernization Deal.

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.