In Yemassee, South Carolina, 43 young monkeys escaped from a research facility on Thursday. Residents in the area are urged to lock their homes and avoid any confrontations with the monkeys under any circumstances.
According to the Yemassee South Carolina Police Department,
As of 12 p.m. today, November 7, 2024, officers with the Yemassee Police Department and staff of Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center are working to capture the 43 rhesus macaque that escaped their enclosure. The monkeys escaped from the facility located on Castle Hall Road in Yemassee around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
Besides police searching for the animals in the small town with a population of approximately 2,000 residents, employees of the Alpha Genesis staff have joined in the search. As of Friday, the monkeys were still on the loose. Traps have been set in the area where the rhesus macaque monkeys escaped. Some have been spotted near the research center.
The monkeys escaped when an employee left the door to their enclosure open. The furry fugitives are young females, weighing about six pounds, and have never been used for testing due to their young age and size a statement read.
A spokesperson also posted:
current observations show the primates playfully exploring the perimeter fence of the facility, engaging with those still inside by cooing to them.
The website of the Alpha Genesis states they provide nonhuman primate products including serum, plasma, whole blood and tissue samples.
… the company’s website, Alpha Genesis “provides the highest quality nonhuman primate products and bio-research services world-wide … with a client base that extends across North America, Europe, and Asia.
The company also claims the animals are given the highest quality of care.
According to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) in the U.S., more than 113,000 primates are imprisoned in laboratories. The primates are often used in invasive, painful and terrifying experiments. Once they are brought into facilities, they are caged and barely have room to sit, stand or lie down. Their tiny worlds are devoid of environmental enrichment and rarely are they able to socialize.
The rich days full of sensory stimulation that they should be experiencing are replaced by days that are devoid of color and scent. At most, the primates in laboratories are given cheap plastic toys, scratched mirrors, and the occasional slice of apple or banana.
Their lives are too often fraught with misery. Following are some of the truly heartbreaking experiments these sensitive animals have to endure, and rarely do they ever leave the laboratories alive.
Pharmaceutical tests
Vaccine tests
Military experiments and training
Maternal-deprivation experiments
Invasive brain experiments
Primates are highly intelligent animals who form their own family relationships. They experience emotions much like humans and therefore experience pain and psychological stresses as a result of experimentation. So many times, primates are captured in the wild, forced to breed in captivity and then their offspring taken away within days of their births.
Why not promote the development and use of non-animal alternatives? Surely we have the technology. Why are these primates being forced to suffer?
Read more and what you can do to help by clicking here.
(Photos via screenshots to public)
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