Another Dead Monkey at Oregon Primate Center, PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
February 23, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Science Advisor on Primate Experimentation Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding a recent Animal Welfare Act violation issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) against Oregon Health & Science University’s Oregon National Primate Research Center. A just-posted Jan. 20, 2026, inspection cited the primate laboratory for inadequate veterinary care after staff abruptly stopped long-term steroids prescribed for a rhesus macaque’s chronic skin disease, which USDA noted can cause pain and suffering when discontinued without tapering. The monkey later showed severe signs of distress and he was euthanized.

Yet another preventable veterinary care failure at the Oregon National Primate Research Center has resulted in the death of a monkey, highlighting longstanding, and apparently irreparable, institutional deficiencies. Over decades of operation, federal inspections have documented these failures through official warnings, fines, and violations. This latest event underscores why the primate laboratory model is no longer scientifically, ethically, or operationally defensible, and reinforces the Oregon Health & Science University’s president and board of directors’ unanimous decision to begin negotiations to end experiments on monkeys and transition the center toward sanctuary. PETA wholeheartedly supports that decision.

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.