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Primate Products, a monkey breeding company at the center of the MonkeyGate scandal in Hendry County, Florida, assigned invasive surgeries to vet techs instead of veterinarians – in violation of state law. David Roebuck, a former employee at the Florida company, told TheirTurn that vet techs performed C-section abortions on pregnant monkeys so that the company could sell the fetal organs and the mothers’ milk.

Primate Products lab monkeys

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), “Veterinary technicians can assist in performing a wide variety of tasks, but they cannot diagnose, prescribe, perform surgery, or engage in any activity prohibited by a state’s veterinary practice act.”

Mr. Roebuck’s account of the surgeries has been corroborated by Wink News, a local TV station that obtained Primate Products’ “Standard Operating Procedure” manual. The manual provides instructions on how to cut open a pregnant monkey and extract the fetus — a tutorial that a licensed and trained veterinarian would not need. When asked by a local reporter, Primate Products president, Thomas Rowell, did not deny the charges. The company has not respond to TheirTurn’s inquiries.

Mr. Roebuck, who was employed by Primate Products in 2008, was tasked with vacuum packing the monkey fetus organs. He resigned after one week on the job when his supervisor told him the monkey surgeries were routine: “If you know what a deep freezer looks like, there were two of those, filled with parts.”

According to Primate Products, the restrainer provides “trouble-free accessibility”

A representative from the Florida Medical Veterinary Association said surgery is an “unlicensed activity” for a vet tech and that the supervising veterinarian would be accountable under state law.

According to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, a non-veterinarian practicing veterinary medicine is subject to a $3,000 – $5,000 fine for each count. A veterinarian who knowingly employs unlicensed persons in the practice of veterinary medicine is subject to both monetary fines and probation or suspension.

Local residents have asked Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch an independent investigation. In addition, a formal complaint with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation is being prepared.

Monkey breeding farm (photo: Alon Ron)

Smash HLS protests Primate Products

In addition to violating state veterinary laws, Primate Products breached zoning laws in Hendry County by performing surgery on land zoned for agricultural purposes. Charles Chapman, the County Administrator, said that the procedures brought to his attention are not agricultural. On March 27th, Hendry County launched an investigation.

Notice of investigation

Please ask Hendry County’s five commissioners to stop the expansion of Primate Products pending county and/or state investigations: bocc1@hendryfla.net, bocc2@hendryfla.net, bocc3@hendryfla.net, bocc4@hendryfla.net, bocc5@hendryfla.net

Primate Products’ monkey breeding & lab equipment manufacturing facility in Hendry County, Florida

In a shocking new development in the MonkeyGate scandal in Hendry County, Florida, a former employee of Primate Products told WinkNews in an exclusive interview that vet technicians cut fetuses out of pregnant monkeys and sold the organs. His allegations dovetail with documents obtained by the TV station.

Macaque monkeys (photo: BUAV)

David Roebuck, who was a vet tech with Primate Products, said that he resigned from the company in disgust when he was asked to vacuum pack and freeze the livers, lungs, kidneys and brains of the aborted monkeys. Mr. Roebuck also said he was shocked to discover that the invasive surgeries were being performed by vet techs, not veterinarians.

David Roebuck resigned from Primate Products when he learned that fetuses were being cut out of pregnant monkies

Mr. Roebuck also said that vet techs killed the fetuses to prevent them from being born alive. Nursing infants, he explained, would reduce the supply of monkey milk that Primate Products has available to sell. On its website, Primate Products advertises “serum, plasma, and tissue samples from cynomolgus macaques and rhesus macaques.”

Primate Products is located on land zoned for “agricultural” use. Residents assert that conducting any procedure, much less invasive and lethal surgeries, constitutes a clear violation.

County officials have not yet announced what course of action they will take against Primate Products, but residents are demanding that the County halt the construction of several new buildings which would reportedly house between 5,000 – 14,000 additional monkeys. Hendry County residents only learned about this massive expansion when the organization Drones for Animal Defense released aerial footage. Residents are now conferring with lawyers to determine whether to seek an injunction or pursue other legal avenues to curb the expansion.

Drone footage of Monkey Breeding Facility under construction in Hendry County, FL

Primera Science Center is one of two monkey breeding facilities approved behind closed doors by Hendry County officials

Resident of Hendry County attend public meetings to air their opposition to the new monkey breeding facilities

1. Ask Hendry County’s five commissioners to stop the construction of the Primate Product expansion: bocc1@hendryfla.net, bocc2@hendryfla.net, bocc3@hendryfla.net, bocc4@hendryfla.net, bocc5@hendryfla.net

2. Tweet #MonkeyGate with this article and your thoughts on importing more monkeys into Florida to be bred for lab experiments.

After TheirTurn broke the news that officials in Hendry County secretly approved a second new monkey breeding facility, several media outlets in Central Florida conducted their own investigations to confirm the report. What one TV station uncovered is sending shockwaves through the state of Florida.

According to USDA documents discovered by Wink News, Primate Products, a different monkey breeding facility in Hendry County, has conducted hundreds of experiments on monkeys — illegally. In a press conference on Tuesday, the County Administrator said that he had no knowledge of the experiments and that conducting them on land zoned for “agriculture” violates the law. As it is, area residents are arguing in an ongoing lawsuit against the County that breeding monkeys for lab experiments does not constitute “agriculture.”

The nature of the experiments is not revealed in the USDA documents, but Primate Products manufactures several products used in monkey testing, including restraint devices.

According to Primate Products, the restrainer provides “trouble-free accessibility”

The disturbing revelations about the existing monkey breeding facility, Primate Products, come just two days after Drones for Animal Defense released aerial footage of the new one under construction — adding to a growing scandal that is being dubbed by the local press as “MonkeyGate.”

The drone footage, taken by an activist who was chased for miles by company employees, not only confirms the existence of Bioculture’s new monkey breeding center, but it also shows its massive scale. An investigative reporter who has researched the BioCulture facility – Amir Shuan with Israel’s largest newspaper Yedioth Ahronot, has said that it has the capacity to house 14,000 monkeys, which is more than three times the number of primates already held captive in Hendry County.

Drone footage of Bioculture’s partially-constructed monkey breeding facility in Hendry County, FL

On Monday, the same day that activists released the incriminating drone footage of the enormous facility under construction, county officials issued a press release denying that it’s new — stating that it is merely an expansion of Primate Products. During Tuesday’s press conference, however, Jane Velez-Mitchell of Jane UnChained challenged the county’s claim by pointing out that everything about Bioculture’s facility is new — the company, the buildings and the thousands of macaque monkeys that Bioculture hopes to import from overseas.

Today, the local Fire and Rescue District Commissioner, Matt Smith, gave area residents another reason to worry. In an interview with NewsPress, he said that first responders have not been briefed about how to handle emergencies at the facilities, echoing concerns raised by Velez-Mitchell at the earlier press conference: “In the event of a hurricane and the escape of hundreds or thousands of monkeys, what’s going to happen? Where’s the liability? Who’s ultimately responsible if these monkeys escape and bite people?”

Hundreds of non-native wild macaque monkeys with herpes B virus live in Florida (photo: Graham McGeorge/ Barcroft Media)

Florida state senator Dwight Bullard added to the chorus of residents criticizing the secrecy of Hendry County officials, saying the “solution is transparency from the individuals and organizations who are seeking to have a positive relationship with the community.”

Florida state senator Dwight Bullard hits the airwaves in 2014 to ask Hendry County to pause construction of Bioculture’s monkey breeding facility

Amidst the revelations of illegal experiments, a lack of emergency preparedness, and secrecy surrounding two new monkey breeding facilities, Hendry County residents appear to be waging a war with their public officials until the County hits the pause button on the Bioculture’s new monkey breeding facility. 

Please sign petition asking Hendry County officials to  halt construction of new monkey breeding facility.

Just four months after filing a lawsuit against Hendry County, Florida, for approving a monkey breeding facility without soliciting public comment, local residents discovered that County officials secretly approved another monkey breeding facility.

On Tuesday morning, they are holding a press conference at the Hendry County courthouse to express their outrage about the illegal lack of transparency as well as their grave concerns about the public safety and animal cruelty issues associated with the secret facilities. They will also ask what other secrets County officials are hiding from tax-paying residents.

Hendry County residents discovered a second monkey facility secretly approved by local officials.

Jane Velez-Mitchell of JaneUnchained recently traveled from New York to Florida to speak to residents who say they are determined to prevent Hendry County from becoming the nation’s capital for the importation and breeding of lab monkeys.

The plaintiffs in the case against Hendry, who are being represented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), claim that County officials not only violated Florida’s Sunshine Law, which requires the County to hold a public hearing on matters that affect the community, but also broke zoning laws by illegally approving a wild monkey operation on land zoned for agricultural use. When ALDF filed the lawsuit, residents were not yet aware that the County had, behind closed doors, approved a second monkey breeding facility.

Residents gather at Hendry County administrative building to protest secret monkey breeding facilities

The facility that is the subject of the ALDF lawsuit, Primera Science Center, is being built by PreLabs, an Illinois-based company which reportedly intends to import 3,200 macaque monkeys from Mauritius, an island off the east coast of Africa.

Primera Science Center, a monkey breeding facility under construction in Hendry County, FL.

The newly-discovered facility has already been built and is owned by the Mauritius-based company Bioculture. Bioculture is leasing land from Primate Products, a company that breeds monkeys and manufactures equipment for use in monkey labs. Area residents, who are determined to shut down this facility, do not know if Bioculture has already imported monkeys, and the company’s Sales & Marketing Director refused to answer any questions when TheirTurn reached him by phone. But the residents’ efforts are not without precedent. In 2012, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico ruled that Bioculture’s already-constucted monkey breeding facility in Puerto Rico could not be opened because it was illegally built on land that was zoned for other purposes.

Residents are waging a battle against Hendry County officials to prevent their community from becoming the nation’s monkey breeding capital

The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF), which has worked for years to prevent these facilities from being approved, believes that Air France, the only commercial airline that transports monkeys, will ship the animals from Mauritius for both PreLabs and Bioculture.

Actor James Cromwell participates in PETA protest against Air France at Los Angeles airport

Bioculture kidnaps and breeds macaques in Mauritius and sells them to monkey breeding facilities

Hendry County residents fear that the presence of thousands of exotic animals poses a safety hazard for the community. And their concerns are not unfounded. In early March, the CDC began conducting an investigation at the Tulane National Primate Research Center where monkeys died after being exposed to deadly bacteria that was mysteriously released from a separate, high security section of the lab.

Tulane National Primate Center (photo: Ellis Lucia)

According to Allison Young, an investigative reporter with USA Today, biosafety lapses have been reported all across the country, including at the Center for Disease Control, “They’ve had incidents involving Ebola, anthrax, and a very deadly strain of bird flu.”

Florida already has a population of hundreds of non-native wild macaque monkeys. Over the past 10 years, wildlife officials, who describe the animals as a “public health hazard,” have captured 700 of them. The majority of these monkeys tested positive for the herpes-B virus.

Wild, non-native macaque monkey in Silver Springs, FL (photo: Graham McGeorge)

The ALDF’s lawsuit against Hendry County is ongoing. Area residents are now meeting to discuss how to handle the newly discovered Bioculture facility.

1. Local residents have organized a press conference on Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. in front of the Hendry County courthouse. Please spread the word so that local residents and advocates attend.

2. Please sign this form letter demanding that Air France stops transporting monkeys for lab experiments. And please boycott Air France until it does. All of the world’s other major commercial airlines refuse to transport monkeys to breeding facilities and laboratories.

As efforts to build new monkey labs and breeding facilities in the U.S. have increased during the past several months, activist groups have taken to the streets, the courtroom and the internet in an effort to block them. Tensions are running high. Following are just a few of the battles being waged by activists on behalf of the monkeys.

FLORIDA
Officials in Hendry County, Florida, already home to two monkey breeding facilities, have approved the construction of two more without soliciting feedback from area residents, a move that violates the state’s Sunshine Law. Florida’s Sunshine Law requires municipalities to hold public hearings on projects that impact local communities. The Animal Legal Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit against Hendry County on behalf of angry residents.

Monkey breeding facility (Photo: Alon Ron, Haaretz)

Jane Velez-Mitchell of JaneUnchained recently traveled from New York to Florida to report on a court hearing on the case and the civil strife that accompanied it: “Watch as I try to get a comment from Hendry County’s lawyer, and see dozens of angry local residents swarm the county offices demanding answers!”

WASHINGTON
In November, The University of Washington decided to expand its primate research center to increase the number of monkeys it could accommodate. Activists with Campus Animal Rights Educators and No New Animal Lab have been fighting to stop the expansion, pointing to USDA citations, the deaths of several monkeys, including one from starvation, and evidence of a monkey who was euthanized after repeatedly harming himself.

On March 8th, Activists with No New Animal Lab drop a banner over a highway in Seatle

Michael Budkie, President of the anti-vivisection group Stop Animal Exploitation NOW, says that the monkeys are highly stressed by captivity: “I can’t conceptualize the actual mental state of an animal that is so disturbed and mentally abnormal to literally be biting off pieces of his own fingers.”

Monkeys, who are highly social animals, are driven insane by lab experiments and intensive confinement

MARYLAND
Since 1980, NIH researchers have used public funds to conduct maternal deprivation and isolation studies on infant monkeys. Video footage of the experiments is so disturbing that four members of Congress sent a letter to the NIH, which is based in Maryland, demanding an explanation. When the lead researcher, Stephen Suomi, made a presentation at the University of Michigan, activists disrupted his remarks four times to raise awareness of his barbaric experiments.

In a fascinating interview with Justin Goodman, PETA’s Director of Laboratory Investigations, Jane Velez-Mitchell shines a spotlight on Suomi’s studies and the deception that has enabled NIH researchers to spend 30 years and tens of millions of U.S. tax dollars on these experiments that have done nothing to improve human health.

NIH maternal deprivation study

The plight of animals in society is often ignored by the mainstream media. Given the enormity of the problem, the issues don’t receive the attention they deserve. That is what prompted Jane Velez-Mitchell to launch her own initiative to be the media for animals – JaneUnChained. But doing it on her own is unsustainable over the long term. Please see how you can help her be a permanent voice for the animals.