Violations of the Federal Animal Welfare Act in Wake Forest University Laboratories
Veterinary inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have documented severe and chronic violations of the Animal Welfare Act in the laboratories of Wake Forest University. This federal law sets minimum animal welfare standards, but Wake Forest experimenters have repeatedly failed to meet even these basic protections. Click the links for the complete USDA reports.
- September 9, 2025 (four violations, two critical): Staff put 12 baby rabbits in an incubator that was too hot and 10 died because the university’s animal care committee approved the unsafe temperature. Two rhesus macaques were given the wrong medication for 10 days, and one monkey’s mental health deteriorated. Experimenters surgically implanted the wrong tissue into two rabbits, requiring euthanasia for both. Two monkeys consumed 100 times the intended dose of nicotine in an experiment and developed seizures because of a staff medication error. Also, staff locked a monkey outside overnight in temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
- November 4, 2024 (two violations, one critical, one repeat): Staff forced 16 long-tailed macaques to wear uncomfortable experimental jackets for four to six days when the approved limit was two days. A long-tailed macaque under anesthesia died after experimenters incorrectly connected a supplemental oxygen machine, causing catastrophic trauma to her lungs. Staff opened the doors to cages containing three macaques, who fought and suffered multiple injuries.
- April 22, 2024 (two violations, one critical, one repeat): Staff gave five vervet monkeys anesthesia and subjected them to MRI scans, neither of which was approved. A young vervet monkey died after staff found her hanging by the metal collar around her neck, which had become stuck on the damaged chain of an “enrichment” device.
- December 19, 2023 (three violations, one critical and repeat): Staff subjected three primates to unapproved blood draws on three occasions, and three received an unapproved drug on two occasions. Veterinary staff asked an experimenter about animals who were possibly exposed to a contaminated substance, but the experimenter deliberately did not mention four macaques. The same experimenter also instructed staff to flush the IV catheters of two primates just before veterinary staff collected samples, apparently to interfere with the test results. An experimenter failed to report for four days that a primate’s vascular access port—an implant intended to remain under the skin—was exposed. An experimenter gave a monkey an unapproved drug, causing the monkey’s body temperature to plummet and the animal to become sedated, but veterinary staff were not informed promptly. A monkey suffered injuries after fighting with another monkey because staff put the monkey in the wrong cage, and the incident was not reported to veterinary staff. The monkey needed anesthesia to repair two wounds, including a large gash on the chest that penetrated to the muscle.
- May 8, 2023 (two violations): Staff gave nine long-tailed macaques a medication for nine days that was intended for different monkeys. Eight long-tailed macaques endured anesthesia and procedures designed for another group of animals. Staff neglected to weigh five macaques, who were supposed to be weighed monthly, between March and October 2022, and two became too thin. Staff failed to notice that four monkeys did not have access to water for four days.
- February 1, 2022 (one violation): An area used to hold primates contained an “excessive amount” of cleaning supplies, unused equipment, and other materials.
- November 2, 2021 (two violations): A rhesus macaque was confined to a restraint chair that was too large for a procedure scheduled to last 90 minutes. The monkey was crouched in the chair and could not sit down as required. The plan for a different experiment described subjecting pigs to eye surgery, but it did not mention what impairments the surgery might cause. Crusty, dark brown filth covered two food bowls for pigs.
- July 28, 2021 (five violations, three critical): An unqualified experimenter caused 15 incidents involving four cats. The experimenter failed to keep proper records, including while the animals were under anesthesia and in recovery, and failed to administer required pain relief. Also, an experimenter (likely the same one) failed to clean the head implants of four cats regularly and returned cats recovering from anesthesia to cages while their body temperature was still too low. In five instances, an experimenter reported that cats were recovering normally after anesthesia, but the veterinary team found that the cats were in pain, in shock, or otherwise in need of immediate medical attention. The body temperature of a macaque under anesthesia was too low, and the monkey vomited during recovery. It was not reported to the attending veterinarian. The next morning, staff found the monkey unresponsive, requiring euthanasia. Five rabbits did not receive required pain medication after surgery. A staff member failed to handle a rabbit carefully, and the animal suffocated to death. Ten sheep were left outside in 95-degree temperatures with insufficient shade to shelter all the animals.
- September 10, 2020 (one violation): A member of the university’s animal experimentation oversight body attended only about half of the committee’s meetings, preventing the member from “effectively represent[ing] the general community interests in the proper care and treatment of animals.”
- November 27, 2017 (one violation): Several areas, including rooms used to hold primates, were not kept clean and in good repair. Some air vents had spots of rusty discoloration or were covered in dust. Inspectors found cracked and flaking paint around three vents, cobwebs on some light fixtures, and a cutting board used to prepare food for animals left uncleaned.
- March 15, 2017 (one critical violation): Two incompatible monkeys fought after staff put them in the same cage. Both required surgery for severe wounds and multiple weeks of veterinary care. Staff failed to notice that a monkey was left behind in an outdoor pen. The monkey moved into another pen whose door staff had left open, where the monkey was severely injured by other animals, requiring surgery. Also, staff broke a rabbit’s leg while removing her from a cage, necessitating euthanasia.
- April 19, 2016 (four violations): An experimenter left a towel inside a pig’s body during surgery. The pig was killed after suffering complications. Inspectors found expired or improperly labeled medications, as well as accumulations of dust, hair, and excess equipment, in experimentation rooms. Staff failed to secure a cage, and a prairie vole escaped and died. Two sheep escaped from enclosures.
- June 1, 2015 (two violations): An air vent in one room was uncovered, possibly allowing primates to enter the ductwork. A rhesus macaque escaped from a cage and apparently fought with another monkey, and both became injured. In a separate incident, two long-tailed macaques escaped from a cage, and one sustained lip and finger injuries.
- March 18, 2014 (one violation): A rhesus macaque strangled to death after getting caught in the chain of a hanging “enrichment” device.
What You Can Do
Urge the National Institutes of Health to save thousands of monkeys just like those imprisoned at Wake Forest by cutting funding for the national primate research centers today.
