Yemassee monkey research CEO has had enough of PETA and isn’t pulling verbal punches
A CEO of a Yemassee monkey research facility has told an animal rights group to “go ____ themselves,” which is prompting the organization to reply with its own strong language including that the CEO is “losing it.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals picked up its long-standing criticism of Alpha Genesis Inc.’s care of the monkeys following a Nov. 6 breach that saw 43 female rhesus macaques escape with the last of them rounded up in January. Then on Nov. 22, the group filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service after hearing from a whistle blower about the deaths of 22 monkeys during a cold snap. That incident is now under investigation.
Greg Westergaard, CEO of the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center, seemed to have had enough of the attacks when he addressed the November monkey escape on Facebook on Jan. 30.
“All of the animals have been safely recovered and are in excellent health,” he wrote. “I would like to thank the Town of Yemassee, and all of the fine people of Beaufort and Hampton Counties for their generous assistance and continued support. It was truly a team and community effort.”
Westergaard ended the update this way: “As for PETA, they can go f___ themselves.”
Westergaard told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette on Monday that he was tired of “pot shots” from PETA.
Alpha Genesis manages three primate facilities in Lowcountry of South Carolina. There are 4,000 monkeys at its main facility in Yemassee, where the escape occurred. A second facility is located on 80 acres six miles north of Yemassee off Old Salkehatchie Road in Early Branch. There are 3,000 monkeys at that facility.
Alpha Genesis also manages free-ranging monkeys for the National Institutes of Health on Morgan Island, which is located in Beaufort County off the coast 36 miles southeast of Yemassee and just north of St. Helena Island.
The company is considered a leading provider of nonhuman primates for medical research. PETA urged Harvard Medical School to reconsider its ties with Alpha Genesis, Inc. following the November escape.
Westergaard’s salty language prompted PETA to respond a day later, on Friday, Jan. 31:
“Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard is clearly losing it. This is a man with $119 million in contracts from multiple federal agencies, yet he can’t summon good manners or, more importantly, the ability to respond honestly to a reasonable question that the public — which largely funds him — has a right to know the answer to: Where is the proof that all 43 escaped monkeys were recaptured? Witnesses in the community reported to PETA that at least one monkey was hit by a car and killed. It’s no wonder Alpha Genesis reels from scandal to scandal while monkeys pay with their lives.”
Westergaard said all of the escaped monkeys were returned. “I can count to 43 as well as anybody,” he said. No monkey was struck and killed by a car, he added.
After it was announced last month that all of the monkeys had been captured and were in good health, PETA said it was doubtful all of the animals had been safely returned and demanded “proof of life,” including a release of identifying records.
Westergaard’s Facebook post regarding PETA and the return of the monkeys that had escaped struck a nerve, prompting 119 comments and 115 shares. Many of the comments were critical of PETA, which sometimes refers to Alpha Genesis as a “monkey dealer.”
Previously, Westergaard told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that Alpha Genesis is primarily a primate breeding operation that supplies monkeys to the federal government, pharmaceutical companies and universities for biomedical research into cures for human diseases. “We love the monkeys,” he said.
This story was originally published February 3, 2025 at 1:47 PM.
