Yemassee monkey breeding facility fined
$12K for escape violations
By
Lana Ferguson, IslandPacket.com, June 13, 2018
A Yemassee facility that breeds monkeys for research has been fined
$12,600 by the federal government for six violations including the escape of
some of the animals.
Alpha Genesis, Inc., which does genetic testing on the animals, sells them
for immunological research and has been in business since 2003, houses 6,000
monkeys at any given time.
The United States Department of Agriculture leveled the fines for six
violations that occurred between December 2014 and February 2016, according
to a USDA document obtained by an animal rights group.
Four of the violations cite incidents where monkeys escaped from their
enclosures. The first occasion was in 2014, when 26 monkeys escaped and all
were returned within 48 hours. A single monkey escaped just a week later and
was never found. Six months later, two more monkeys escaped and one died
because of internal injuries that occurred after it was shot with a dart
during its recapture. In 2016, another monkey escaped because its cage was
secured with a clip rather than a lock.
The other two violations involved one monkey being placed into the wrong
social group enclosure, where other monkeys attacked it causing fatal
injuries, and an incident where at least six monkeys suffered severe
dehydration.
Alpha GenesisPresident and CEO Greg Westergaard said he thought the fine was
fair.
"We're a large organization, and this is a relatively small fine,"
Westergaard said. "I had the choice to pay it or contest it, and the money
went to betterment of animal health. We have a good relationship with the
USDA, so we went ahead and paid it."
The company employs about 150 people and brings in $12 to $14 million in
revenue each year.
Westergaard said Alpha Genesis hasn't had noncompliant items for the past 2
and a half years.
“When you have monkeys out in open-air corrals, they’re monkeys.
Occasionally they’re going to get out, walls fall down; storms come
through,” Westergaard said. "They always return, though."
He said these monkeys usually don't stray very far from their homes unless
they're spooked and they usually always return very quickly.
He said escaped monkeys pose "zero danger" and are "no public health hazard"
because they are not aggressive and are used to people. The animals who live
outdoors in the corrals do not have any diseases, he said.
The USDA usually does evaluations at Alpha Genesis two to three times a
year, and there is staff on-site to monitor and maintain the monkeys'
health, Westergaard said.
An Ohio-based animal-rights group, Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!, has been
tracking Alpha Genesis for at least a decade, according to SAEN Executive
Director Mike Budkie. The small group of about five filed a complaint as
recently as last year.
Budkie said SAEN uses official documents from government agencies, like the
USDA, and tips from whistle-blowers to collect information on any illegal
activity happening within animal facilities.
In a letter to the USDA, Budkie said the fines Alpha Genesis received were
"extremely disappointing," and based on SAEN's research, the fines should
have been closer to $370,000. Budkie argues facilities like Alpha Genesis
may receive up to a $10,000 fine per infraction or animal, so Alpha Genesis
was only charged 3.4 percent of what the maximum penalty could have been.
“We’re not going away, we do not intend to let this issue rest," Budkie
said. "We won’t be satisfied until Alpha Genesis is closed.”
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