Escaped Monkeys in Mississippi Shows Experimentation Industry is Playing With Fire: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
October 28, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the escape of rhesus macaques from an overturned truck that was transporting them from Tulane National Primate Research Center. Five of the escaped monkeys were killed, likely shot, while three remained missing Wednesday:

Terrified monkeys running for their lives into unprotected, populated areas is exactly the spark that could ignite the next pandemic. Monkeys can carry diseases transmissible to humans, including tuberculosis, and Tulane National Primate Research Center, where these monkeys were trucked from, has had disease outbreaks of pathogens deadly to humans in its monkey colony. This is the risk the greedy monkey experimentation industry has chosen for the public, so they can line their pockets while these sensitive monkeys crisscross American highways in unmarked trucks. It’s also a tragedy for the monkeys, whose only moments of freedom before death were the result of a truck crash. The importation and use of monkeys in laboratory experiments is emptying the world’s forests while putting Americans at great risk, and it must end now.

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.