Gruesome Pics Expose Horrors of Alpha Genesis and Other Labs
Last week, we paid homage to 43 now-famous freedom fighters, whose “‘great escape’” from nonhuman primate breeder, seller, and experimenter Alpha Genesis made headlines – and spurred important conversations – across the country.
Many of these continuing conversations are now turning to accountability, something the animal research industry is notorious for avoiding.
News outlets are reporting that Alpha Genesis “has come under intense scrutiny”.
Paired with records revealing Alpha Genesis’ “rapid expansion” amidst a 2021-2024 160% increase in federal funding, public records detailing the horrors inside the animal research facility are increasingly circulating.
And, now, new color photographs provided by an Alpha Genesis whistleblower have gone public.
Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) has shared graphic pictures taken inside Alpha Genesis in 2022 that “show bloody monkeys who’ve died and others with injuries to their tails and fingers”, as well as horrendous living conditions.
What these images depict is devastating, despicable, and indefensible. But, unfortunately, it’s also unexceptional.
Yes, there is “‘clearly an issue’” at Alpha Genesis, but it’s not unique to Alpha Genesis (just as the bottomless atrocities at Envigo, Marshall BioResources, and Ridglan Farms are not unique to any of them).
Rather, it’s an inherent and inescapable component of the morally bankrupt animal research industry, which exists to harm nonhuman animals and for which Alpha Genesis is the momentary poster child.
In fact, among research facilities, Alpha Genesis is only a bit player.
The nonhuman primates held and experimented upon by Alpha Genesis represent only about 0.4% (and, together with Alpha Genesis-managed “Monkey Island”, only about 3.5%) of those reported by U.S. research facilities in 2023.
And, it’s not just last year (the most recent for which this data is available): since 2014, Alpha Genesis and “Monkey Island” have consistently reported approximately 3.5% or less of the U.S.’s animal research industry’s nonhuman primates.
[It is important to note that these numbers, which are specific to research facility reports, do not reflect all of the nonhuman primates incarcerated at Alpha Genesis or on “Monkey Island”. This is because (1) Alpha Genesis also holds a separate “dealer” license, and animal dealers are not required to report their annual figures to the USDA (though, during the USDA’s most recent inspection of Alpha Genesis, the government listed a total of 6,701 nonhuman primates at the facility); and (2) “Monkey Island” is registered as a federal research facility and, therefore, exempt from key provisions of the Animal Welfare Act, including the type of inspections giving rise to Alpha Genesis’ “dealer” count.]
So, as we continue rallying behind the Alpha Genesis 43, let us not forget the over 104,000 other nonhuman primates and the unknown millions of other nonhuman animals enduring similar suffering – and harboring the same desires for freedom – all across the country (as of 2023 alone).
The way to end the likes of Alpha Genesis is to abolish the entire animal research industry, and to realize freedom for all.
Nothing less.