Media Invite: PETA Supporters to Pack UW Regents Meeting Over Gruesome Baby Monkey Torment

For Immediate Release:
November 6, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

PETA supporters wearing “No Monkeys, Better Science” shirts will pack the University of Washington’s (UW) Board of Regents meeting Tuesday, bringing board members face-to-face with video of newborn monkeys shrieking in fear in the school’s laboratories and calling for the closure of the Washington National Primate Research Center.

Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, a primate scientist who spent 17 years at the university and now serves as PETA’s chief science advisor on primate issues, will address the regents during public comment and present them with the video PETA recently released. The footage shows experimenters shaving days-old monkeys’ heads, fastening electrodes to their tiny bodies, and subjecting them to repeated tests.

“UW takes baby monkeys from their mothers and subjects them to frightening and invasive experiments, then asks us to believe the results will translate to human health,” says Dr. Jones-Engel. “The Regents need to look at what is happening to these baby monkeys and ask whether UW can defend either the suffering or the science.”

When: Tuesday, November 10, 3 p.m.  A PETA spokesperson will be available at 2:30 p.m.

Where:  Anthony’s Forum, Dempsey Hall, University of Washington

Credit: PETA

Why:  In nature, macaques live in large, tight-knit groups, travel up to two miles each day exploring diverse habitats, and cuddle together at night in their favorite “sleeping trees.” But in the university’s laboratories, infant monkeys, some just days old, were taken from their mothers and left desperately clinging to blankets for comfort. Experimenters repeatedly tested them to determine whether a toxin they were exposed to damaged their developing brains, causing them to tremble.

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.

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