Feds’ Paltry Fine Against Labcorp Is Little Compensation for Gruesome Monkey Deaths

For Immediate Release:
November 7, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Trenton, N.J. – Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Science Advisor Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent settlement with Labcorp Inc. for five serious violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including the deaths of four monkeys, one at the company’s Somerset facility:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s anemic fine of $9,000 levied against Labcorp is a pittance for the agony animals endured at the hands of incompetent staffers, leading to the deaths of four macaque monkeys. Labcorp is clearly unable or unwilling to uphold even the most basic standards of animal care, and its animal labs, such as its facility in Somerset, should be shut down permanently.

Between May 2019 and February 2022, Labcorp staffers broke the bones of five monkeys because they didn’t handle them properly. Three of those monkeys died as a result of the injuries. A sixth monkey, at Labcorp’s Somerset facility, slowly wasted away for months while staffers did nothing to report the illness to a veterinarian. That monkey was killed, according to the USDA report.

Labcorp must modernize its laboratories; replace cruel, archaic experiments on animals with sophisticated, human-relevant research methods; and implement the strategy proposed in PETA’s Research Modernization Deal.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.