In late 2023, it came to light that the small town of Bainbridge, Georgia, had been targeted as the site of what would be the largest monkey breeding facility in the United States. If built, the proposed prison for long-tailed macaques would be capable of holding around 30,000 monkeys, destined to be sold to pharmaceutical companies for animal testing.

The company behind the plans, Safer Human Medicine, is led by former executives of other key companies involved in sourcing animals for lab testing. These include Charles River Laboratories, which has undergone civil and criminal investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice after it was revealed that monkeys in U.S. labs had been illegally caught from the wild and smuggled from Cambodia.

The breeding facility would not only be a place of unimaginable suffering for the innocent monkeys held captive there, but it would also generate 444,000 gallons of wastewater every day — polluting surrounding soil and water and putting local residents and wildlife at serious risk.

Despite the misleading name of the company behind this appalling plan, there is nothing “safe” about animal testing. It has been proven time and again that human drugs should not be tested on other species, as drugs can react very differently even in closely related animals. In fact, as many as 95% of drugs deemed safe in animal trials later fail human trials for being dangerous and/or ineffective.

Keeping tens of thousands of monkeys in captivity is also dangerous for local residents, as these monkeys have the potential to transmit life-threatening zoonotic diseases. There have been frequent cases of monkeys escaping from smaller facilities in the U.S., and there has been a significant increase in monkeys arriving at these facilities infected with dangerous illnesses such as Ebola-like viruses, tuberculosis, malaria, and other deadly pathogens that can spread to humans.

This breeding facility offers no benefit to the local community. In fact, it was authorized without going through proper channels — in a backroom deal that will provide this inhumane operation with tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks.

The people of Bainbridge, Georgia, do not want to have this suffering on their consciences. Nor do they want their environment polluted, their property values diminished, and their lives put at risk for the sole benefit of a cruel and immoral company that profits from the torture and killing of one of our closest living relatives. Town residents have been fighting back for years, but they need our support to keep it up and to make sure this facility is never built.

Take Action Now

Please join Species Unite in telling the Bainbridge city councilors that the proposed monkey prison is an immoral disgrace and a betrayal of the people of Bainbridge, who overwhelmingly oppose the construction of this cruel and dangerous facility.