Victory! Another Colombian Monkey Hellhole Shut Down After PETA Exposé

For Immediate Release:
August 14, 2025

Contact:
Brandi Pharris 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Lead Projects Manager Dr. Magnolia Martínez regarding a just-received confirmation from Colombian environmental authorities that the Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia (FIDIC), a dilapidated facility that for 40 years abducted owl monkeys from forests and tormented them in pointless experiments for a malaria vaccine that was never produced, is now formally closed. PETA was the first to expose the animal abuse and neglect at FIDIC’s facility in Leticia (Amazonas):

Not one more owl monkey will fall prey to the cruel obscenity that passed for science at the Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia (FIDIC). PETA’s exposé revealed FIDIC’s scientifically bankrupt operation of tormenting and killing monkeys for decades under the guise of developing a malaria vaccine that was never produced. FIDIC is the second ramshackle facility to close in Colombia after local authorities raided the filthy Caucaseco Scientific Research Center and the Primate Center Foundation, dismantled the organization, and liberated the animals imprisoned there following a PETA investigation. PETA now calls on the Colombian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation to take decisive action by banning the use of monkeys in biomedical experiments altogether, abandoning outdated and ineffective research practices, and embracing cutting-edge, human-relevant methods capable of truly advancing public health.

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.