Two Monkeys Die in 104 Degree Temperatures at BC US: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
March 2, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Science Advisor for Primate Experimentation Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel regarding a critical citation issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to BC US after two long-tailed macaques died at its Florida facility when staff left them overnight in a room heated to temperatures up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, a violation of federal regulations that prohibit monkeys from exposure of more than four hours to temperatures greater than 85 degrees:

BC US is a staggering failure that has once again proven deadly. The same facility where a living monkey was thrown in the trash in January has now roasted two long-tailed macaques to death because staff weren’t trained to turn off a heater. According to federal inspectors, temperatures in the room confining the monkeys reached 104°F for hours, far exceeding legal limits, yet the facility had no protocols requiring intervention when conditions became dangerous. Staff recorded the escalating temperatures overnight while the animals remained trapped in a deadly overheated room, underscoring a system designed to document failure rather than prevent it. BC US has repeatedly demonstrated it cannot be trusted with animal lives. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must immediately stop monkey imports. As BC US demonstrates, the primate importation system delivers animals into facilities that cannot account for or protect them.

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.