Here’s a roundup of last 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.
Dealing in Suffering: The Torture & Trade of Primates’ Kin
Rise for Animals, 2/6/2025
Public records obtained by Animal Partisan reveal that, in addition to smoking ferrets and depriving them of water, University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) researchers are destroying the eyes of tree shrews and leaving them to suffer — and literally go mad — in the filthiest of cages. 📰 Full Story →
Species Spotlight: Tree Shrews
Rise for Animals, 2/6/2025
Tree shrews might well be one of the most fascinating creatures you’ve never heard of! These animals look like rodents, but they’re actually most closely related to primates (which is a major reason why they’re being increasingly exploited in experiments).
These fascinating creatures have the largest brain-to-mass ratio among mammals (including humans), and they’re the only mammals — other than humans! — who seek out spicy foods. Learn more about them here: 📰 Full Story →
Alpha Genesis monkey farm says last of escaped monkeys now safe. PETA says ‘Prove it’
Michael M. DeWitt, Jr., Bluffton Today, 1/31/2025
“‘PETA highly doubts that Alpha Genesis has recaptured all the escaped monkeys, and we demand proof of life, including the release of records identifying the monkeys and evidence that the animals correspond to that paperwork,’….”
“During the more than two-month span of their escape, many of the runaway monkeys endured several weeks of below-freezing temperatures, capped off by several inches of ice and snow . . . Most of the monkeys were recovered in November, but as many as four were still at large during the month of December and the balance of January. During this time, Alpha Genesis had not returned requests for comment, but in a brief Thursday morning email . . . Alpha Genesis CEO Westergaard doubled down on his previous statement that ‘All of the animals have been recovered safely and are in excellent health,’ then added ‘PETA can go (expletive) themselves.’” 📰 Full Story →
Bainbridge community hosts third town hall for those opposing pending primate deal
AJ Douglas, 27 WTXL Tallahassee, 1/31/2025 (Updated)
“Despite the state court ruling, people in the Bainbridge community are still pushing against a pending primate project. The Joe L. Sweet Center on Potter Street was a full house Thursday, during what primate opponents called the Monkey Gat Expo. ‘We were to full capacity and overflowing. The citizens are concerned. They were showing up,’ . . . Recently opponents reached a one-year mark on their fight to stop SHM from building a facility that will raise primates to be shipped to other facilities. Those will be used for medical testing.”
“County leaders once again expressed remorse for their initial support of the project. They assured neighbors they are doing all they could to rescind their support.” 📰 Full Story →
Animal rights advocates turn to DOGE to end deadly experimentation
Elaine Mallon, Washington Examiner, 2/3/2025
“Six month-old Beagle puppies are put in jackets that inject them with cocaine and meth, causing them to vomit and foam at the mouth, as part of a drug testing study by the [NIH] that has been under congressional scrutiny for years. Former President Joe Biden’s administration extended funding for the study, which has received $5.3 million, until March 31 . . . upon the end of trials, these beagle puppies were either euthanized or kept at Charles River Laboratories for further testing trials.”
“Now, through the Department of Government Efficiency with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) as the chairwoman of the Senate DOGE caucus, members of Congress and animal welfare advocates . . . are looking to end inhumane and wasteful animal testing that picked up steam under the Biden administration.”
“White Coat Waste and Ernst have adopted a four-point plan to phase out cruel animal testing, which includes cutting funds for dog and cat testing, abolishing the NIAID, ending taxpayer funding of Chinese labs, and restoring the Trump administration’s EPA animal testing phase-out plan . . . DOGE would play an important role in fleshing out exactly how many taxpayer dollars are being spent on research by the NIH and other government agencies and how.” 📰 Full Story →
International monitor allows monkey shipments from Cambodia to continue
Ed Silverman, STAT, 2/4/2025
“In a boost for one of the largest clinical research organizations in the U.S. [Charles River Laboratories], the officials who oversee an international treaty governing endangered species voted to defer a recommendation to suspend shipments of long-tailed macaques — which are regularly used in medical research — from Cambodia. The move by a committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, came after a request by the Trump administration and, as a result, any suspension is unlikely to be reconsidered for up to a year.”
“Until the Trump administration intervened, the CITES committee appeared likely to suspend shipments, but now, the Cambodian government has time to take steps to ensure macaques that are shipped internationally have been bred in captivity.”
“‘Today’s disgraceful postponement by the CITES Standing Committee is a step closer to extinction for long-tailed macaques, and it proves that backroom deals and industry influence over U.S. and international officials hold sway over what should be an independent, science-driven process,’ said [PETA].” 📰 Full Story →
Carbon monoxide blamed for deaths of 22 research monkeys at troubled supplier
Meredith Wadman, Science, 2/4/2025
“One of the leading suppliers of monkeys for U.S. medical research [Alpha Genesis] has received the most serious kind of citation under the Animal Welfare Act for the deaths last year of 22 cynomolgus macaques. The animals died from apparent carbon monoxide [] poisoning, according to an inspection report released yesterday by the [USDA].”
These deaths “are likely the largest mass casualty event involving research primates since 25 monkeys died while being shipped to another supplier in 2013.” 📰 Full Story →
DEA Conducts Audit on Ridglan Farms
Kyle Pozorski, Channel 3000, 2/5/2025
“Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted an on-site audit of beagle breeder Ridglan Farms Wednesday, the federal agency confirmed . . . They say while the agency cannot comment on what the visit was for, DEA will occasionally visit physicians, veterinarians or anywhere that controlled substances and listed chemicals are used at. These visits can be scheduled audits or to follow up on thefts or complaints through DEA’s diversion control division.” 📰 Full Story →
DATCP conducts inspection at Ridglan Farms on behalf of Veterinary Examining Board
Isthmus Staff, Isthmus, 2/5/2025
“The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection conducted an inspection today at Ridglan Farms, a dog-breeding facility in southwest Dane County, on behalf of the Veterinary Examining Board, which licenses veterinarians and vet techs, sets professional standards, and reviews complaints. Also today, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke was appointed as the special prosecutor to lead an investigation into alleged animal cruelty at Ridglan.”
“ . . . Ridglan is under investigation by DATCP for recurring violations of state animal welfare standards . . . DATCP has statutory authority to suspend the license of a facility when there is ‘evidence that an act of animal cruelty’ has occurred.” 📰 Full Story →
Feds Must Follow Science, Not Industry, and Protect Macaques
Rise for Animals, 2/5/2025
At the end of January, Rise for Animals joined PETA in submitting two new petitions urging the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to grant long-overdue Endangered Species Act protections to long-tailed and southern pig-tailed macaques. 📰 Full Story →