Ongoing Crises in Mississippi Calls for Immediate Federal Response: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
November 4, 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 the ongoing public health threat in Jasper County, Mississippi, where seven monkeys who escaped an overturned truck that had left Tulane National Primate Research Center last week have been killed, while questions about public health risks swirl:

Nearly one week and seven dead monkeys later, Jasper County residents are still under threat because one terrified monkey remains loose, potentially shedding dangerous pathogens. Critical information comes at a haphazard trickle from sources who are apparently happy to mislead. The public is being told these monkeys didn’t have COVID, but that’s a distraction. The real danger comes from the viruses, bacteria, mycobacteria, and parasites routinely found in primates funneled through the research pipeline—including herpes B virus, Shigella, and Burkholderia pseudomallei, a Tier 1 biothreat agent that persists in soil and water and has already been detected in monkeys imported into U.S. laboratories. These pathogens cause serious human disease, and stressed, confined monkeys are far more likely to shed them through urine, saliva, feces, and blood—directly into the environment, including people’s yards.

Tulane’s primate colonies have repeatedly tested positive for deadly pathogens—yet no one with a stake in this crisis is saying a word about it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be the lead agency for this response, and it’s unconscionable that it appears to have abdicated its responsibility to protect the public.

We also need answers about why these monkeys were reportedly headed to PreLabs, a private, for-profit company. Why is a taxpayer-funded facility like Tulane funneling animals into a commercial pipeline? Tulane owes the public—which bankrolls its primate center—a full and transparent explanation.

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.