PETA’s Eye-Opening New Exhibit “How the Other Half Lives” Reveals the Truth About Monkeys in Labs
They’re seven and a half feet tall. They’re sleek, immersive, and high-tech. And they’re showing the world the cruelty that animal experimenters have been hiding behind laboratory walls for decades.
PETA just unveiled its newest cutting-edge multimedia exhibit, How the Other Half Lives. Named after Jacob Riis’ 1890 exposé of tenement poverty, this exhibit draws a parallel in its mission to reveal hidden suffering—this time exposing the suffering of animals in laboratories.
The striking split-screen reveals the heartbreaking contrast between how macaques live in nature vs. how experimenters force them to exist in laboratories. The centerpiece? A colossal pair of high-tech binoculars fitted with 4K ultra-HD screens that immerse viewers in the world of macaques.
A Look Into Two Vastly Different Worlds
One lens reveals the peaceful, social lives of macaques as they should be—cuddling in their favorite “sleeping trees,” traveling several miles each day to explore diverse habitats, and communicating within their tight-knit groups.
But then you look through the other lens, and everything changes. Here, macaques at laboratories like the Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) are isolated in barren cages, their eyes full of trauma. Experimenters at the WaNPRC and other National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) mutilate, torment, and kill these intelligent, emotional animals for pointless tests.
Shining a Spotlight on Primate Research Centers Nationwide
The exhibit debuts at the University of Washington in Seattle, home to WaNPRC, and will travel to other National Primate Research Centers across the country. These federally funded facilities have spent billions of taxpayer dollars—killing hundreds of thousands of monkeys—in cruel, archaic experiments that have failed to produce effective vaccines or cures for human diseases.
Rich Lives Stolen for ‘Research’
Macaques lead rich emotional lives. They form lifelong bonds, nurture their children, and express joy, curiosity, and grief. But at the WaNPRC and other centers, they’re subjected to a horrifying contrast: solitary confinement, fear, physical trauma, and death. Federal records reveal repeated violations of the law—including cases of starvation, strangulation, mauling, and neglect so extreme that monkeys have died from preventable diseases. What’s more, these family-oriented animals are globally endangered, largely due to the experimentation industry’s decimation of wild populations.
Once You See It, You Can’t Unsee It
“How the Other Half Lives” is more than an exhibit; it’s a wake-up call. When you see what’s happening to monkeys in laboratories, you can’t look away—and you shouldn’t.
