Here’s a roundup of the week’s biggest news stories related to animal research — all the recent media coverage you need to know right now to be the most effective activist for animals in labs.
More Animals Reported by Labs, Again
Rise for Animals, 6/17/2025
NEW: According to the USDA’s latest Annual Reports, 2.2 million animals were reported used in U.S. labs last year — up 40% over the year prior. But most animals used in labs still aren’t required to be reported at all.
The numbers tell a complicated story. We’ve broken it all down for you: 📰 Full Story →
SC’s Monkey Island poses ‘potentially life-threatening situations,’ documents reveal
Marilyn W. Thompson, The Post and Courier, 6/10/2025
“A remote South Carolina island that is home to as many as 3,500 research monkeys poses so many ‘potentially life-threatening situations’ that caretakers must bar the public and prosecute trespassers, according to federal contract”, which “paints a far more alarming picture of security risks and health dangers on so-called ‘Monkey Island’ than government officials and contractor Alpha Genesis have acknowledged.”
“Alpha Genesis, which took over the colony’s management in 2023, recently received another $4.1 million from the National Institutes of Health to run the project for another year . . . Alpha Genesis also runs monkey farms in Yemassee and Early Branch, and it attracted global attention when 43 research monkeys escaped from its facility last November. All of the monkeys were eventually recaptured.” 📰 Full Story →
Watchdog group wants to defund UConn’s lab animal research program
Nicole Zappone, The Chronicle, 6/14/2025
“The University of Connecticut in Storrs recently admitted, through federal reports that were obtained through FOIA, that its laboratory staff violated federal regulations and laws, which led to the killing of six research subjects, using expired anesthetics, and prompting the suspension of two separate research projects.”
“A national research watchdog group filed a federal complaint with the Director of the National Institutes of Health, which calls for UConn’s animal research program to be defunded by revoking the lab’s Animal Welfare Assurance. Revoking the assurance would block the lab’s animal use program from receiving any federal funding.” 📰 Full Story →
EXCLUSIVE: NIH Renews Grants for Harvard Monkey Lab, Fauci’s Beagle and Primate Tests
Cassandra MacDonald, Gateway Pundit, 6/14/2025
“Despite President Donald Trump’s Department of Veterans Affairs and Navy moving to end cruel animal testing, the National Institutes of Health, under Director Jay Bhattacharya, has renewed millions in funding for controversial experiments, including THC tests on monkeys at Harvard, tick bites on beagle puppies, and Anthony Fauci’s notorious ‘Monkey Island,’ prompting criticism….”
“A Barack Obama-era NIH staffer, Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer, has been appointed by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya to be the NIH’s Acting Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives. Earlier this month, Kleinstreuer told NPR that the NIH has ‘no intention of just phasing out animal studies overnight.’”
“The Daily Caller recently reported that, ‘Virologist Jeffery Taubenberger, a longtime Fauci ally who for more than a decade has defended the practice of enhancing viruses known as gain-of-function (GOF) virology, ascended to the top of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on April 24.’ Taubenberger now runs NIAID, the NIH division that Fauci helmed for nearly four decades. This may explain why, as Gateway Pundit reported in late April, NIAID recently renewed funding for Dr. Anthony Fauci’s infamously cruel ‘Monkey Island’ off the coast of South Carolina.” 📰 Full Story →
Animal rights group asks judge to dismiss case brought by scrutinized beagle breeder
Kyle Jones, Channel 3000, 6/18/2025
“Ridglan filed a lawsuit against Dane4Dogs last month, accusing the group of interfering in its contractual relationships and harming its business . . . ‘Ridglan has outright stated that its lawsuit is based on constitutionally protected expression,’ said Steffen Seitz, a litigation fellow with Animal Activist Legal Defense Project (AALDP). The group is representing Dane4Dogs in this lawsuit. ‘The company can’t possibly expect to actually recover damages or restrain activists’ campaigning,’ Seitz said. ‘The real goal of this case is to burden animal advocates with costly, time-consuming litigation. The First Amendment does not permit that.’”
“If our advocacy for the dogs trapped inside Ridglan amounts to tortious activity, then no political advocacy or organizing is safe from the threat of litigation, Dane4Dogs president Rebekah Robinson said. Our efforts to stop Ridglan’s abuse of dogs are core expressive and petitioning activity protected by the First Amendment.’” 📰 Full Story →
Decatur County residents push back as judge dismisses $3.5M Bainbridge bond proposal
AJ Douglas, WTXL Tallahassee, 6/17/2025
“Faircloth and her group, which includes members from across the tri-state area, are united in their opposition to Safer Human Medicine (SHM), a company behind a proposed primate research facility in the area. They fear that city funding—particularly from the proposed bond—may indirectly support the controversial project.”
“In court, the judge sided with the district attorney’s petition and dismissed the city’s 2025 revenue bond series. For those opposing the SHM facility, the ruling comes as a welcome relief . . . Boyd, Faircloth, and other protesters are now focused on stopping the SHM project entirely.” 📰 Full Story →
The one thing the Trump administration got very right.
Marina Bolotnikova, Vox, 6/18/2025
“If there’s anything the Trump administration has gotten unequivocally right. . . it’s this: Modern science, for all its remarkable capabilities, still remains far too dependent on one of the most primitive research methods there is — harming and killing animals.”
“But there’s a catch. While the NIH’s initiative is, to my knowledge, being run by people genuinely invested in improving science by advancing animal-free methods, that mission is unfolding within an administration whose broader science policy has consisted mostly of laying waste to research funding across the board and attempting to destroy some of the country’s top research universities. These are objectives that one generally wouldn’t expect to be conducive to the flourishing of research on animal testing alternatives — or on any other topic.”
“Meaningfully rethinking the role of animal experimentation requires the ability to, well, think. Sound judgment about what kind of research actually deserves public funding requires institutional capacity to reason clearly about both science and ethics. And under the Trump administration, that capacity is being systematically dismantled.” 📰 Full Story →
Congresswoman Nancy Mace supports shutting down federal breeding colony on SC’s Monkey Island
Marilyn W. Thompson & Caitlin Byrd, The Post and Courier, 6/18/2025
“U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace said she supports a shutdown of a federal-owned monkey breeding colony on a South Carolina barrier island . . . ‘I’m against all animal testing. I would defund it tomorrow if I could wave my magic wand,’ the Charleston Republican said June 18 in response to a question from The Post and Courier.”
“Mace, responding to a Post and Courier question, said she would support making Morgan Island ‘a sanctuary for protected primates, or put them in a place where there’s a sanctuary that already exists. I would not want to see them slaughtered.’ The federal government currently funds a sanctuary for retired research chimpanzees in Louisiana, housing primates phased out of use in experiments after a public outcry about animal cruelty.” 📰 Full Story →
Animal rights group files complaint over UMB research animal deaths
Racquel Bazos, Baltimore Sun, 6/18/2025
“An Ohio-based animal rights group filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday over the treatment of research animals at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.”
“Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!’s complaint cites recent inspection reports involving animal death at the school’s research facilities . . . A technician gave the rabbit intravenous ketamine after it began to wake up from anesthesia, when approved protocols say the dose should have been given under the animal’s skin, the inspection report says. Despite the veterinary team’s efforts to resuscitate the rabbit, it died, according to the inspection report. . . . The complaint also points to an October 2023 incident in which a baboon bled to death when the animal pulled its IV line into its enclosure and bit it, creating a leak in the line.” 📰 Full Story →
Take Action: Support the Humane Cosmetics Act
Rise for Animals, 6/18/2025
Re-introduced in March, the Humane Cosmetics Act of 2025 (H.R. 1657) is a bipartisan bill that aims to finally:
- Ban the use of animals in testing cosmetics or cosmetic ingredients, and
- Prohibit the sale and transport of animal-tested cosmetics in the U.S.
Beauty shouldn’t hurt. Urge your U.S. members of Congress to support this bill — send your letter to help animals now: 👉 Take Action Now →
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