Provocative PETA Street Art Blitz Targets Washington Primate Center

Artwork Spotlights the Hidden Suffering of Monkeys at the University of Washington

For Immediate Release:
November 24, 2021

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

As families gather for Thanksgiving, they’re likely to see images of a traumatized baby monkey torn from her family and abused by experimenters. The thought-provoking street art, part of collaboration with Colombian street artist Praxis, demands that the Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) at the University of Washington—and the other six federally funded national primate research centers around the country—be shut down.

“The University of Washington has squandered tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to make monkeys miserable and has failed to produce a marketable vaccine or cure for deadly human diseases,” says PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna. “UW must shut down its failed laboratory and send the monkeys to reputable sanctuaries where they could live out the rest of their lives n peace.”

Despite 60 years of promises, the WaNPRC has failed to deliver effective vaccines against AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, Zika, or any other deadly diseases. Monkeys at the facility have died from strangulation, starvation, dehydration, being mauled by other stressed monkeys, and choking on their own vomit and because of veterinary error. Numerous monkeys have been allowed to escape. The facility is currently under investigation by two federal agencies for these and other concerns.

Locations for this artwork include the University, Fremont, and Capitol Hill districts as well as downtown.

PETA has also posted a billboard reading, “There’s a Better Way. Use It!” at the busy Pike Place Fish Market showing a traumatized monkey, like those seen in the first-ever publicly released video taken inside the laboratory, urging experimenters to opt for a better way.

The billboard is located at 1426 First Ave., at the intersection with Pike Place, just 1 mile from the WaNPRC.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.