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Update (November 25, 2024): Notorious monkey dealer Alpha Genesis, already reeling from the recent escape of 43 rhesus macaques, has more blood on its hands after the horrific deaths of another group of monkeys due to negligence. According to whistleblower reports, 22 endangered, long-tailed macaques were roasted to death a few days ago after a diesel heater malfunctioned. 😱 There were no alarms or alerts, as the animals endured agonizing pain.
This is no accident—it’s a deadly pattern, funded by $19 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) contracts. Alpha Genesis has failed to meet even the bare minimum standards for animal welfare over and over. It’s time to cut the funding and end this cruelty. PETA has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the agency has confirmed it’s investigating. Meanwhile, the 43 escaped monkeys remain at the mercy of this hell hole. You can help them by urging NIH—which owns them—to allow their transfer to a sanctuary.
Original Post:
If you’ve seen the news about 43 monkeys who busted out of their Alpha Genesis prison in South Carolina in early November, you’re prob rooting for the monkeys—and we are, too.
They outsmarted their tormentors. They bested their oppressors. Even though they were forced to live in misery, they held onto the tiny spark inside them that the experimenters couldn’t touch. And one day, they tasted freedom! 🙌
This sounds straight out of a movie, but it’s real life— and the ugly truth is that a happy ending isn’t in the bag.
The monkeys were brought to Alpha Genesis from Morgan Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, where several thousand free-ranging rhesus macaques have lived for over four generations. It’s basically a feeder colony run by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). When the agency needs new monkeys to torment, it plucks them from the island.
Alpha Genesis, a stunningly incompetent company with $19 million in current NIH contracts, has allowed 109 monkeys in 12 separate documented incidents to escape in the last decade. 😶
The federal gov has cited the company several times after employee incompetence killed monkeys, including several who froze to death after being left out in the cold, a monkey who died of thirst after the water was turned off for maintenance and never turned back on, and an infant who got trapped in gauze and died. 😢
We’ve called the company out several times. In 2017, following a complaint we filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that agency took the rare step of fining the company $12,600 for serious animal welfare violations that led to severe injuries and the deaths of two monkeys.
They Can’t Go Back
Born Free USA has offered to work with Alpha Genesis to provide the animals a suitable home at its Texas-based primate sanctuary. Anonymous donors have committed $250,000 for the long-term care of any of the escaped monkeys once transferred to the sanctuary. All the pieces are in place—now, we need to get NIH to do the right thing. Please help TODAY by urging the agency to send all 43 monkeys to live their lives peacefully. 🐒