PETA Claims Investigation Reveals Shocking Abuse in Oregon Primate Center

Group says their news conference will present documentation of sick and injured animals, psychological trauma.

OHSU's Primate Center Image courtesy: publicintegrity.org

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Today, PETA will hold a news conference in Portland to present evidence of alleged rampant and routine violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act that were gathered during a four-month undercover investigation at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) in Beaverton.

At ONPRC, PETA's investigator says they documented that monkeys did not receive adequate veterinary care and pain relief. "The animals were forced to eat food from their waste trays, were terrorized when they were chased and caught in group cages, and suffered such severe psychological trauma that at least one monkey, Megatron, resorted to self-mutilation."

"Many other monkeys whirled, rocked, and paced inside their small cages. PETA filed a formal complaint today with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging the agency to immediately launch an investigation into ONPRC."

PETA claims ONPRC houses more than 4,000 monkeys, and it has received more than $33 million in taxpayer funding in 2007 alone. At the news conference, PETA says they will detail its investigator's findings, including the following:

Penelope, an 18-year-old monkey, reportedly suffered severe pain from endometriosis for more than a month but was only given adequate pain relief a week before she was killed.

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Although ONPRC states on its Web site that it trains monkeys to enter transfer boxes voluntarily, the investigator claims to have videotaped a monkey who was shrieking with arms pinned behind his or her back as staff tried to get the animal into a box.

Isaac, a monkey whose eye was removed so that experimenters could induce a stroke, was found dead in his cage the day after the surgery.

"PETA's investigator documented ONPRC's complete disregard for animals and for the laws that should protect them," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "These animals live in terror every second of every day—they are shut in metal boxes and killed for nicotine and alcohol experiments as well as other wasteful and repetitive studies."