Pattern of Monkey Escapes at University of Washington Facilities Prompts PETA Complaint
For Immediate Release:
July 20, 2026
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
In a letter sent today, PETA urges the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate the mass escape of numerous monkeys at the University of Washington’s Mesa-based monkey-breeding facility, an incident that occurred more than two years ago and for which the university has yet to be held accountable.
PETA obtained records from the university showing that staff negligence led to a group of pigtail macaques escaping their enclosure and fighting with other monkeys and injuring eight, including two who required hospitalization.
The incident is one of a growing number of containment failures, animal injuries, and regulatory violations documented across the university’s primate operations.
The March 28, 2024, escape occurred after staff failed to double-check enclosure locks following a cage change, as required. The incident reflects a troubling pattern at the university’s primate facilities, which routinely fail to comply with minimal animal welfare regulations.
Just one week before the Arizona escape, two adult rhesus macaques in the university’s Seattle facility escaped through an improperly secured side panel and fought with other animals, injuring four. That escape earned the university a federal citation, but the USDA is still silent on the Mesa incident.
Obtained by PETA through a public records request
“This is another preventable failure at a national primate research center with a long record of animal injuries, escapes, protocol violations, and federal citations,” says PETA Senior Science Advisor on Primate Experimentation Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. “The University of Washington’s own records reveal a years-long troubling pattern of harm to the primates.”
In just the past three years, the University of Washington’s primate facilities have racked up 16 citations for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act. Inspectors have found broken cages, unsafe housing, protocol breaches, overdoses, escapes, and a monkey who was irradiated nearly to death by an experimenter.
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.
