Their escape captured national headlines and generated a slew of funny memes. But Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace isn’t laughing as roughly a dozen rhesus macaque monkeys are still on the lamb after fleeing the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee, SC.
The U.S. representative for the coastal 1st district wants answers.
“For years, Alpha Genesis has racked up federal contracts and taxpayer dollars while consistently violating animal welfare laws and exposing the public to dangerous escapes,” Rep. Mace said in a statement released Tuesday night.
She's asking for briefings from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on last week’s escape of 43 monkeys from Alpha Genesis. The center provides primates for medical research at both its Yemassee facility and a remote island off the coast of Beaufort where thousands are kept.
Mace says NIH funds Alpha Genesis with taxpayer money, including $19 million this year alone. And, she says, the USDA has fined Alpha Genesis for past escapes as well as violations. She wants to know what the federal agencies know about a research center that is largely off public radar, except when monkeys escape.
South Carolina Public Radio has reached out by email to Alpha Genesis, the NIH and the USDA for comment. We are still waiting to hear back.
Yemassee police say two more monkeys were found and recaptured Tuesday night. They were said to be eating PB&J sandwiches for dinner while the 11 remaining escapees “cooed back and forth to each other” in a wooded area just outside the facility. Police say the monkeys disappeared after an employee failed to fully shut their enclosure.
Meantime, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says an anonymous couple has donated $250,000 in hopes Alpha Genesis will release the escaped monkeys to a primate sanctuary in Texas.
“We hope this generous offer will spur NIH to do the right thing and let these monkeys have decent lives,” says PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel.
PETA says it’s documented 12 escapes involving 109 monkeys in the last decade.
