Feds Issue Official Warning to University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center After Monkey Strangles: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
August 5, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Science Advisor Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding the just-posted Official Warning issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture against the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. This rare enforcement action was triggered by a critical violation of the Animal Welfare Act after a squirrel monkey—trapped and helpless—was strangled to death when her head became wedged between a cage and cage door:

This Official Warning from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a rare step for the agency that is reserved for the most egregious violations, won’t bring back to life the trapped squirrel monkey whose horrific strangulation death was entirely preventable. No legitimate cancer center still kills squirrel monkeys in crude experiments, except MD Anderson, which drains $120 million a year in taxpayer funds to do so. It’s indefensible, unethical, and scientifically bankrupt. MD Anderson must shut down its primate labs 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.