Violations at UC Davis: Monkeys Crammed in Tiny Cages Suffer Serious Injuries, Amputations; PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
May 6, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding three citations issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture against the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) for critical violations of the Animal Welfare Act that resulted in amputations and injuries to caged monkeys. In one, a stressed monkey burst out of an inadequate cage and so severely injured another monkey that two of her fingers had to be amputated. In another, staff carelessly opened a door between two small adjacent cages, enabling a chaotic fight between two monkeys that resulted in bleeding lacerations so severe they had to be sutured closed. In a third, a monkey’s mouth was ripped open and required surgery after a staff member left a metal clip in the cage. Numerous monkeys were confined in cages far smaller than required:

The bloody fights and serious wounds these monkeys sustained represent more than regulatory breaches—they lay bare the reality that monkeys are crammed into small cages and forced to live under conditions so oppressive that injury, terror, and suffering are unavoidable. It should be illegal for two full-grown monkeys to be confined to a cage measuring just 8.6 square feet, which is about the size of a bathroom vanity. PETA thanks federal officials for citing the UC Davis primate center for its failure to keep the monkeys safe, but the only way to end this misery is to shut down the primate center.

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.