Feds Cite BC US Over Monkey Thrown in Dumpster, Undiscovered for Five Days: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
March 17, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Chief Science Advisor for Primate Experimentation Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding the just-posted critical violation issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Florida-based monkey importer BC US after a live monkey just flown in from overseas was discarded in a dumpster and trucked across the state and remained undiscovered for five days. The incident was first reported to PETA in February by a whistleblower:

Throwing a living monkey into a dumpster and not knowing it even happened for five days is a wholesale indictment of the entire animal experimentation and importation pipeline, and it can’t be remedied by a citation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The biosecurity and public health implications of this colossal mistake are mind-boggling. This monkey was required to be in a federally mandated quarantine, as imported monkeys are known to carry various zoonotic pathogens, including tuberculosis, Shigella, Salmonella, and herpes B virus. Yet there’s not even a whisper from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is supposed to protect the public from these exact dangers. PETA again calls for local and federal investigations and an end to the importation of monkeys to U.S. laboratories.

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.