Charles River Laboratories Clings to a Failing Business Model in Latest Earnings Report: PETA Statement 

For Immediate Release:
May 7, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Science Advisor on Primate Experimentation Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding Charles River Laboratories’ first quarter earnings call:

Charles River Laboratories’ latest earnings call made clear the company will double down on a collapsing and corrupt business model and continue to import and sell monkeys for use in laboratories. CEO James Foster said the company will pass new monkey import tariffs on to clients, ignoring the deeper crisis—these monkeys are coming into North America via an international pipeline rife with tuberculosis, herpes B, and other pathogens, deception, and alleged criminal activity. Charles River’s business model isn’t just cruel and outdated—it’s contaminating the very science it claims to support. While science, economics, and public opinion move away from failed experiments on animals, Charles River faces a choice: lead the transition to modern, human-relevant science or collapse with a dying industry.

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.