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.
Media Frames Monkey Recapture as a “Disney Movie” Ending
Rise for Animals, 1/28/2025
The media has reported the recapture of monkeys escaped from Alpha Genesis as a feel-good, fairy tale ending — The New York Times even called the monkeys’ re-incarceration “a story fit for a Disney movie”.
Does the media really expect us to believe that monkeys are celebrating their return behind bars? 📰 Full Story →
Whistles Blown 4: Animal Researchers Don’t Do What They Say
Rise for Animals, 1/29/2025
Inside animal research labs, whistleblowers report monkeys given “rope burns, punctures, contusions and broken teeth”; a veterinarian “finess[ing]” records to hide “adverse events”; “[m]any counts of animal abuse”; and more: 📰 Full Story →
Animal research watchdog points to botched practices at Middlebury College lab
Greta Solsaa, vtdigger, 1/24/2025
“In a lab at Middlebury College last fall, researchers . . . struggled with maintaining anesthetic depth and sanitary practices during castration of rats, confused recorded data sets and mixed up rats scheduled for surgery . . . Some rats were not given allotted feed and water over a span of a day, and feed was not increased for several rats with recorded weight loss. There were also several rats that did not have their sutures removed after 17 days, when the appropriate amount of time to wait to perform the postoperative practice is seven to 10 days…”
“‘Unfortunately, the kinds of things that we see in the report by Middlebury College are not that unusual, said [Stop Animal Exploitation Now]. ‘The use of untrained staff, failure to follow protocols, failure to even anesthetize animals correctly and, in this case, even not being certain which animals are supposed to be worked on – that’s not science.’” 📰 Full Story →
Two Animal Deaths Reveal Pattern of Research Laboratory Incidents
Sebastian Flores, The Daily Utah Chronicle, 1/27/2025
“The U[niversity of Utah] said it has continuously attempted to minimize suffering in animal testing. Still, multiple incidents of animal mistreatment have been reported in the past . . . ‘Rats and monkeys had holes drilled into their skulls in invasive brain experiments. The monkeys were locked in steel cages by themselves, kept constantly thirsty so that they would do what experimenters wanted just for a sip of water … Sick and injured animals were denied veterinary care and left to languish and die,’….”
“Although many incidents happened in the past, some have occurred more recently . . . a canine died on March 22, 2024. The dog ‘presented in lateral recumbency with significant salivation and regurgitation … On post-mortem examination, a . . . single surgical gauze was found adhered to the left lateral thoracic wall.’ Another document said a rhesus macaque died on April 18, 2024. The monkey’s ‘collar had become attached to a standard metal alloy non-locking (straight) carabiner . . . The cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation secondary to hanging strangulation.’” 📰 Full Story →
Defense Department, NIH collaborating on ‘cruel’ dog experiments with ‘problematic’ Chinese labs, GOP lawmakers and watchdog say
Josh Christenson, New York Post, 1/28/2025
“The Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health (NIH) are still collaborating on research with a Beijing lab for ‘cruel’ dog experiments on beagles, according to a federal watchdog and Republican lawmakers who have sought sanctions on the biotech entity involved….”
“Pharmaron, a Chinese biotech firm, is currently testing pharmaceuticals on up to 300 beagles per week to learn how to better treat neurological disorders, with the help of taxpayer funding from the DOD and NIH according to federal contracts . . . The NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences received initial funding ‘specifically’ from the Pentagon, the contract shows, to funnel $124,200 in total for the drug experiments on beagle puppies – as well as mice and rats – the Beijing-based company’s lab between Sept. 1, 2023, and May 31, 2025.”
“The document goes on to describe how the hundreds of pups, some as young as eight months, ‘will be reused’ throughout the study ‘to save animals and decrease cost,’ while laying out criteria for weak, infected or those suffering organ dysfunction to be ‘euthanized.’” 📰 Full Story →
Kid governor, Jade Adams, pushes New Hampshire to become 13th state to ban animal testing
Charlotte Matherly, Concord Monitor, 1/28/2025
“Fifth-grader Jade Adams ran on a mission: Make New Hampshire the 13th state to ban animal testing.”
“Jade . . . was sworn in as the state’s 2025 kid governor at the State House on Tuesday, embarking on a one-year term. She promised a three-pronged approach to her campaign promise: Encourage kids to buy cruelty-free products, run a letter-writing campaign to the governor’s office and travel to schools across the state to educate her peers on how to buy cruelty-free items and how to treat animals well.”
“‘We need to find alternatives to test products for research and learning because hurting these poor animals is not the right way to do it,’….” 📰 Full Story →
PETA petitions again to keep macaques out of US research labs
Micahel Doyle, Politico, 1/28/2025
“Animal rights advocates are trying again to secure federal protections for two species of monkeys widely used for testing purposes in U.S. laboratories. In a pair of Endangered Species Act petitions filed Monday, PETA and its allies asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the long-tailed macaque and the southern pig-tailed macaque as threatened or endangered.”
“‘Endangered Species Act protections are meant to prevent the extinction of species, not be withheld to prop up profits for the experimentation industry,’….” 📰 Full Story →
Bodies stacked like ‘Tetris’ blocks. Feds silent after 21 reported deaths at SC monkey farm.
Mitchell Black & Marilyn W. Thompson, Post & Courier, 1/30/2025
“The dead monkeys lay stacked in a laboratory refrigerator. They had been moved from Field Cage 18 at the rural South Carolina monkey farm after the night crew discovered them unresponsive or ailing in a heated enclosure on a cold November evening . . . At least 21 monkeys reportedly died during the episode – a body count the company’s chief executive and regulators have not acknowledged despite questions from reporters.”
The USDA “is expected to issue its findings soon, pending negotiations with [Alpha Genesis] about possible penalties.” “[F]ederal investigations are slow and done in close collaboration with regulated companies. The companies are allowed to review and appeal findings before they are made public. Those deliberations happen out of public view.”
“The witness provided The Post and Courier with a handwritten tally of the body count that they said had been posted on the refrigerator door after the bodies were stacked inside. It indicated that the dead included four males and females of all sizes, some just babies weighing under a pound….” 📰 Full Story →
FDA Modernization Act 3.0 Reintroduced to Senate
Rise for Animals, 1/30/2025
Earlier this week, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators reintroduced the FDA Modernization Act 3.0, a bill that aims to revise the FDA’s regulations to remove their requirement for animal testing. 📰 Full Story →