PETITION TARGET: Governor Brian Kemp; Decatur County Court Clerk Cecilia Willis; Bainbridge Mayor Edward Reynolds
Up to 30,000 macaque monkeys could be bred to suffer medical and pharmaceutical testing if a new monkey breeding complex is built as planned in Bainbridge, Georgia.
While plans for the facility were originally approved by county officials, the offer was rescinded following community outrage. Residents of the small town have vehemently voiced their opposition to the new facility during town meetings and protests.
The monkey breeding company, called Safer Human Medicine (SHM), has filed a lawsuit in effort to be allowed to build the facility and operate without paying any taxes for ten years, as was originally planned.
Previous LFT investigations have exposed the unnecessary and traumatizing experiments monkeys exploited in research often endure.
“Monkeys are screaming for their lives to be spared,” Bainbridge resident Vena Merritt told commissioners, according to WFSU News.
The 200-acre facility — which would be largest in the U.S. — will likely bring tremendous suffering to monkeys if built. Macaque monkeys – which are endangered in several parts of the world, due in part to large numbers being used for inhumane experimentation — do not deserve to be born into captivity to suffer cruel experiments.
SHM was formed by two high-ranking leaders who recently left other controversial animal testing organizations: Charles River Laboratories and Envigo. Lady Freethinker has recently reported on both companies.
Charles River Laboratories was subpoenaed in 2023 after monkeys listed as captive bred at their facility were alleged to be wild monkeys smuggled in from Cambodia. The company is also currently trying to open a monkey-breeding facility in Texas, which local residents and animal rights activists — including Lady Freethinker — strongly oppose.
Envigo is the Indianapolis-based company known for having bred thousands of Beagles for medical testing, which was cited by the USDA for dozens of violations – including the deaths of hundreds of puppies in their facility.
Primates are intelligent, social, empathetic creatures who should not have to spend their lives in cages, only to endure excruciating, horrific experimentation.
Sign our petition to stop the cruel, unwanted, and unnecessary construction of the nation’s largest medical monkey breeding facility.
