Feds Cite Louisiana Monkey Lab for Flouting Health Regulations After PETA Complaint
For Immediate Release:
January 15, 2026
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has cited the University of Louisiana at Lafayette New Iberia Research Center for transporting monkeys to Reno, Nevada, without valid health certificates, according to a newly released federal report obtained by PETA.
The citation follows a PETA complaint pointing out that a USDA-accredited veterinarian must examine primates no more than 10 days before they cross state lines to reduce the spread of disease among captive monkeys. PETA found that long-tailed macaques were examined at the primate center a full 28 days before a January 8, 2025, JKL Secure Freight shipment to Charles River Laboratories in Reno, a laboratory with documented tuberculosis cases. Shipping monkeys with expired health clearances isn’t a paperwork error; it’s a biosecurity failure and human health hazard. In this case, the New Iberia Research Center transported the macaques across public highways nearly three weeks outside the legally required health-screening window, despite ongoing tuberculosis detections across U.S. primate facilities.
A long-tailed macaque crammed into a shipping crate. Credit: PETA.
“As tuberculosis swirled around U.S. laboratories, the New Iberia Research Center sent monkeys across multiple state lines, risking the safety of the monkeys and every human they came across,” says PETA Senior Science Advisor for Primate Issues Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. “This dangerous incompetence is exactly why PETA calls on the federal government to crack down on the monkey trade.”
In nature, macaques live in large, tight-knit groups, travel several miles each day exploring diverse habitats, and cuddle together in their favorite “sleeping trees” at night.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
