PETA Urges Investigation Into Harvard Primate Center

The advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is urging the Worcester County district attorney to investigate allegations against the Harvard-run New England Primate Center surrounding 12 monkeys that were euthanized or found dead in their cages at the center between 1999 and 2011.

The Southborough, Mass., primate center, which is set to close at the end of May, came under fire earlier this month for a report that the monkeys died due to dehydration as a result of inadequate care. Known for its HIV and neuroscience research, the center is also being investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after six monkeys transferred to the Oregon Zoo last May died soon after arriving.

In a letter Friday to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., PETA argued that the inadequate care at the center violated Massachusetts’s cruelty-to-animals legislation, which outlaws “unnecessarily failing to provide [an animal] with proper food [or] drink,” and urged the district attorney to “pursue charges against the experimenters responsible for overseeing the animals’ care.”

According to documents released earlier this month by Dr. Frederick C. Wang—who served as interim director of the center at the end of 2011 through the start of 2012—one monkey did not have a waterspout in its cage, and another had a malfunctioning water line.

"PETA is calling on the district attorney to send a message that experimenters can't get away with fatally neglecting animals—and then failing to report those deaths to the authorities," PETA Director of Laboratory Investigations Justin Goodman wrote in an emailed statement.

In 2011, Harvard initiated “a significant review of [their] operations” at the primate center in response to what it called “self-identified events,” according to a statement from the Medical School. After the review, the center reorganized its administrative and veterinary leadership and “implemented the most rigorous standards and administrative procedures.” The Medical School has continued to maintain its commitment to resolving the problems related to the monkeys’ deaths.

“We care deeply about this issue and view the well-being of animals within our care for the purpose of advancing scientific understanding of disease as a public trust,” says a statement from the Medical School.

—Crimson staff writer Mariel A. Klein can be reached at mariel.klein@thecrimson.com Follow her on Twitter @mariel_klein.