Call for action follows whistle-blower report that 18-22 monkeys died at Yemassee facility
Three weeks after 43 monkeys escaped from a Yemassee primate research facility, an animal welfare group is now calling for an investigation into a separate complaint it received that more than 20 monkeys reportedly endured “agonizing deaths” as a result of a defective heater that caused suffocating temperatures in the building where they were being held.
Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said PETA has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) calling on the agency to investigate the latest incident involving the primate research facility that has it facing renewed scrutiny.
Andre Bell, a spokesman with the Animal Care Program of USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, confirmed the agency received the complaint “with some detailed allegations and that we are reviewing them to determine whether there are Animal Welfare Act noncompliances we need to follow up on.”
Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard did not return calls seeking comment on the newest allegation involving the facility on Wednesday.
Alpha Genesis manages three primate facilities in Lowcountry of South Carolina. There are 4,000 monkeys at its main facility in Yemassee. A second facility is located on 80 acres is located just six miles north of Yemassee off Old Salkehatchie Road in Early Branch. There are 3,000 monkeys at that facility.
PETA said it was contacted by a whistle-blower that reported that 18 to 22 long-tailed macaques held at Alpha Genesis’ Yemassee Primate Center died after a diesel heater malfunctioned.
PETA’s allegations
“There were no alarms, no alerts, as 18 long-tailed macaques likely endured agonizing deaths — either slowly roasted alive or suffocated by deadly carbon dioxide fumes,” PETA says in a public statement it released on the case Monday.
Alka Chandna, PETA’s vice president of Laboratory Oversight and Special Cases, passed along the whistle-blower’s claim to the USDA. It said: “20 monkeys died this weekend from building FC18 at YPC & a huge cover up is underway! Temps in that building had been documented at 116 F & the infrared thermometer read that when the monkeys were found. They are saying it was CO poisoning & the alarm just didn’t go off.”
The number of reported deaths was later increased to 22.
Unfortunately, PETA’s Chandna told the USDA, the complaint was submitted anonymously and the group had no way of contacting the complainant. “Considering the insider’s claim of an ongoing ‘cover-up,’ I urge your office to investigate promptly before the evidence is completely concealed,” Chandna told the USDA.
Animal Care is a USDA program that enforces the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act. USDA informed PETA that it would take 30 to 60 days to look into the concerns.
Yemassee is located 25 miles northwest of Beaufort.
Alpha Genesis also manages another 3,000 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.
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.
The company has emerged as a leading provider of nonhuman primates for medical research.
Since 2008, the company has been awarded contracts worth $113,467,970 from the federal government, including a $4.6 million contract in 2020 to raise pathogen-free monkeys for COVID-19 related research.
But the S.C. facility has a history of escapes, animal deaths and alleged mistreatment, according documents and animal welfare groups, base don previous reporting by The State and Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet.
In January 2023, PETA called on NIH to stop funding Alpha Genesis, and in 2018, following a complaint by PETA, the USDA fined Alpha Genesis $12,500 for serious violations leading to injury and death.
The allegation of the 22 monkey deaths comes after 43 monkeys escaped from the main Yemassee primate facility Nov. 6 after an employee cleaning the enclosure and feeding the monkeys left doors open.
While all but four of the monkeys have since been recaptured, the escape prompted renewed calls from Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of Charleston for an investigation of the research facilities.
This story was originally published November 27, 2024 at 5:01 PM.
