A plan to establish the largest monkey-breeding facility in the US, which would allow 30,000 macaques to roam within outfitted warehouses in Georgia, is facing a furious backlash from animal rights groups and some local residents.
The sprawling, 200-acre complex would house an unusually large number of monkeys, which will then be sent out to universities and pharmaceutical companies for medical research. Over the next 20 years, the facility will assemble a mega-troop of about 30,000 long-tailed macaques, a species native to south-east Asia, in vast barn-like structures in Bainbridge, Georgia, which has a human population of just 14,000.
Safer Human Medicine, the company behind the new $396m simian metropolis, has said the monkeys will be kept in highly secured conditions, will not spread disease in the local area and will be fed fresh local produce.
“We all depend on these critical primates to save the lives of our loved ones and ourselves,” the company said in an open letter to residents that featured a mocked-up picture of monkeys joyfully cavorting with toys in a light-filled, apartment-like room.
But the plan faces fierce opposition, with some Bainbridge residents calling on local authorities to block the construction of the proposed primate manse. “They’re an invasive species and 30,000 of them, we’d just be overrun with monkeys,” claimed Ted Lee, a local man. “I don’t think anybody would want 30,000 monkeys next door,” added David Barber, who would live just 400ft from the new facility.
Animal rights groups are also calling for the plan to be scrapped, arguing that breeding primates for medical tests is cruel and provides little benefit in coming up with new treatments for humans due to differences between the species.
“This move not only further threatens the survival of these primates in the wild, it perpetuates a cycle that we should be breaking away from,” said Kathleen Conlee, vice-president of animal research issues for the Humane Society. “We urge local officials to reject the proposal to build this facility and the federal government to prioritize science that will ultimately save both human and animal lives.”
The vast majority of medical testing on animals involves rodents, with only about 1% requiring primates, but the practice of conducting experiments on humans’ closest relatives has long been controversial. The National Institutes of Health said in 2015 it would no longer support biomedical research upon chimpanzees and welfare groups have called for a broader ban alongside a switch to alternative methods, such as using new technology like artificial intelligence.
About 70,000 monkeys a year are still used across the US in tests for treatments to infectious diseases, ageing and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, with researchers warning that the US is running low on available primates for tests. Safer Human Medicine has said its planned monkey mini-city will help alleviate this, while also creating more than 260 local jobs to care for the new residents, which will not be taken from the wild. The monkeys weigh about 5 to 7lbs and, as their name suggests, have very long tails.
“There can often be a lot of misinformation surrounding animal research,” a spokeswoman for Safer Human Medicine said. “Our goal is to provide the Bainbridge community with the facts and accurate information about our purpose and the new facility’s operations. We still believe Bainbridge is the right place for this project and we plan to move ahead with the facility’s plans based on the approvals and support we received at the project’s outset.”
The facility initially secured tax breaks ahead of construction, although those have now been withdrawn ahead of a decision by local authorities over whether to allow the project. Safer Human Medicine has said it will press on with the monkey containment plan even without the tax breaks. Edward Reynolds, the mayor of Bainbridge, was contacted for comment.