YEMASSEE, S.C. (WSAV) — Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center did not mince words in a blunt response to a statement released by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) criticizing the research center's rescue of 43 escaped primates.
Alpha Genesis announced on Jan. 24 that the last of the 43 rhesus macaques monkeys that escaped from a facility on Nov. 6, 2024, had been captured. Nearly one week later, PETA issued a statement that questioned the legitimacy of the company's recovery operation.
"PETA highly doubts that Alpha Genesis has recaptured all the escaped monkeys," the statement said. "And we demand proof of life, including the release of the records identifying the monkeys and evidence that the animals correspond to that paperwork."
Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard took to social mediato issue a response to the advocacy group, seen below.
Alpha Genesis, Facebook
PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo responded to Westergaard and said that witnesses told PETA that a least one monkey was hit by a car and killed.
"Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard is clearly losing it," Guillermo said. "This is a man with $119 million in contracts from multiple federal agencies, yet he can’t summon good manners or, more importantly, the ability to respond honestly to a reasonable question that the public—which largely funds him—has a right to know the answer to: Where is the proof that all 43 escaped monkeys were recaptured? It’s no wonder Alpha Genesis reels from scandal to scandal while monkeys pay with their lives."
PETA previously blew the whistle on the deaths of "between 18 and 20" endangered long-tailed macaques after a diesel heater malfunctioned at one of Alpha Genesis’ Yemassee primate centers on the night of Friday, Nov. 22.
Rep. Nancy Mace (SC-01), whose district covers the Yemassee center, launched an inquiry into USDA oversight after the November escape.
Here are PETA's full statements:
"PETA highly doubts that Alpha Genesis has recaptured all the escaped monkeys, and we demand proof of life, including the release of the records identifying the monkeys and evidence that the animals correspond to that paperwork. Since the monkeys who were allegedly recaptured should never be used for any scientific studies—their exposure to wildlife and other unknowns would compromise experimental results—PETA again asks the National Institutes of Health to release the animals. We have funding from a generous donor and an accredited sanctuary that will welcome them. For once, NIH needs to do right by animals rather than exploit them in meaningless tests irrelevant to humans. Alpha Genesis has too sordid a history of lying and obfuscating to be believed and is still under a federal investigation for the horrific deaths of 18 monkeys after a diesel heater malfunction, as well as for multiple allegations of abuse and neglect."
"Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard is clearly losing it. This is a man with $119 million in contracts from multiple federal agencies, yet he can’t summon good manners or, more importantly, the ability to respond honestly to a reasonable question that the public—which largely funds him—has a right to know the answer to: Where is the proof that all 43 escaped monkeys were recaptured? Witnesses in the community reported to PETA that at least one monkey was hit by a car and killed. It’s no wonder Alpha Genesis reels from scandal to scandal while monkeys pay with their lives."