A Dane County judge dropped a case against the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Oct. 12 which alleged violations of Wisconsin’s cruelty-to-animals law.
Dane County Judge Nia Trammell found probable cause crimes were committed at the primate research center, located on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. However, Trammel declined to continue the case or appoint a special prosecutor, saying a “fuller picture” must be accounted for after reviewing evidence submitted by the Dane County District Attorney office’s investigation.
“Given the totality of the allegations made and evidence available, it appears it would be difficult for any prosecutor to meet their burden of proof and obtain a conviction on the alleged offenses,” Trammel said in a decision and order, according to Isthmus.
PETA rebuked Trammel’s statement, filing a motion for reconsideration and requesting Trammell elaborate on her decision not to prosecute.
“Monkeys are caged, mutilated, tormented, and killed in laboratories for pointless experiments that don’t benefit human health,” PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said in a Nov. 20 statement.
Animal rights activists have long targeted UW-Madison, particularly the primate research center, as an alleged animal abuse perpetrator.
Court proceedings began after PETA led a six-month undercover operation, infiltrating the primate center and documenting a lab it called “deranged.” The undercover employee captured photos and videos of conditions in the facility, focusing attention on two rhesus macaques: Cornelius and Princess.
Cornelius was born at the primate center in 2010. According to PETA’s investigation, Cornelius “had simply given up” and “lost the will to live.” The organization also alleged Cornelius was used for “electro-ejaculation,” a procedure where a rod is inserted into the penis to stimulate sperm release, with samples later used for breeding.
Princess was born in 2004 and acquired by the primate center in 2014. PETA alleged Princess was used for breeding and researchers had her babies “taken away for experiments.” Princess had torn off “90% of her hair, excepting only the hair between her shoulder blades that she could not reach,” according to a court brief submitted by PETA.
Princess was euthanized as part of an experiment in November 2021, according to Isthmus.
The UW-Madison Animals in Research and Training website posted a statement regarding Trammell’s decision not to pursue criminal charges. The post defended “dedicated and respected members of UW-Madison’s scientific community,” arguing their research furthers “important, life-saving work.”
The institute uses animal experimentation to fight diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, according to articles linked on its homepage.
PETA doubted the institution's work in a Nov. 10 press release.
“After more than 60 years, 16,000 dead monkeys and nearly $700 million in taxpayer funds, the WNPRC has produced zero cures for human diseases,” the organization wrote.
Past animal research endeavors at UW-Madison have yielded significant results. Former UW-Madison professor and Nobel Prize recipient Howard Temin discovered a central enzyme in HIV that later paved the way for key biochemical and medical techniques like polymerase chain reactions (PCR) through research on monkeys, mice and other animals.
Brain imaging on primates has also allowed an understanding on how fear and anxiety is processed. “Anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses” can be treated specifically based on where in the brain reactions were measured, according to the Animals in Research and Teaching website.
PETA is opposed to “speciesism,” which it defines as “a human-supremacist worldview” associated with animal experimentation.
“Cruelty-to-animals charges won’t bring back Princess, but we must not erase the crimes against her and Cornelius, who is still trapped in this hellhole,” said PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo.
