Monkeys Denied Food, Pain Relief at UW Primate Center During Rebranding Push: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
February 20, 2026

Contact:
Brandi Pharris 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Science Advisor on Primate Issues Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding the University of Washington’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee reporting at a Feb. 19 meeting of four recent “adverse events” that harmed monkeys imprisoned at the Washington National Primate Research Center, as well as a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) citation issued earlier this month for the center’s failure to maintain an up-to-date emergency contingency plan. The incidents include a monkey recovering from surgery who was denied food for more than 24 hours on Jan. 8; a Jan. 20 surgery in which a monkey was not given the required pain medication despite paperwork stating otherwise, while a syringe containing a controlled substance was left unsecured for six days; a Feb. 5 case in which another post-operative monkey did not receive prescribed pain medication; and months of a supervisor permitting staff to forgo required cage sanitation because they “did not have time”:

Cruelty by any other name is still cruelty. The Washington National Primate Research Center, no matter what the University of Washington chooses to call it, remains a facility where basic postoperative care, pain management, and controlled-substance safeguards are failing. During the same period UW leadership was focused on rebranding the center to improve public and fundraising optics, the USDA cited the facility for failing to keep a required emergency contingency plan current, an obligation meant to protect animals and staff when systems fail. These failures point to the same governance problem: leadership attention directed toward image management while oversight of both routine operations and institutional preparedness was neglected. PETA again asks whether dropping the word “primate” from the center’s name reflects a real commitment to end monkey experimentation—or simply an effort to redirect scrutiny.

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.