PETITION TARGET: U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means
In November 2025, two young long-tailed macaques at a biomedical facility in Immokalee, Florida suffered a slow, agonizing death after staff reportedly left them in a room that reached 104 degrees. Lacking the capacity to sweat and trapped overnight inside cages with no escape from the rising heat, both perished.
Just weeks later at this facility, another monkey was left inside a shipping crate and discarded in a biohazard waste dumpster. The terrified primate reportedly remained trapped for five days without food or water while being transported across the state to a Miami waste facility before ultimately being killed.
These are not isolated accidents. They are the symptoms of a systemic, cruel, and dangerous trade.
A bipartisan bill, H.R. 8471, known as the PRIMATE Act (Preventing Risky Importation of Monkeys to Avoid Toxic Exposure) could help end this cruel trade by prohibiting the importation of most nonhuman primates into the United States. Nearly 100,000 primates were imported for laboratory testing from 2021-2024 through supply chains linked to overcrowding, illegal trafficking, and poor disease surveillance, according to lawmakers supporting the bill. These imports may also expose workers and communities to dangerous pathogens, including tuberculosis and herpes B virus.
If enacted, the PRIMATE Act would stop the importation of monkeys except in extremely limited circumstances, protecting both animals and public health.
Monkeys deserve safety and protection, not lives spent suffering in laboratory cages.
Sign our petition urging the House Committee on Ways and Means to pass the PRIMATE Act and help end this cruel trade.
