TARGET:   HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE

In November 2025, two young long-tailed macaques at a biomedical facility in Immokalee, Florida suffered a slow, agonizing death after staff reportedly left them in a room that reached 104 degrees. Lacking the capacity for evaporative cooling (sweating) and trapped overnight inside cages with no escape from the rising heat, both succumbed.  

Just weeks later at this facility, another monkey was left inside a shipping crate and discarded in a biohazard waste dumpster. The terrified primate remained trapped for five days without food or water while being transported across the state to a Miami waste facility.  

These are not isolated accidents. They are the symptoms of a systemic, cruel, and dangerous trade.  

A bipartisan bill, H.R. 8471, known as the PRIMATE Act (Preventing Risky Importation of Monkeys to Avoid Toxic Exposure) could help end this cruel trade by prohibiting the importation of most nonhuman primates into the United States. According to lawmakers supporting the bill, nearly 100,000 primates were imported for laboratory testing from 2021-2024 through supply chains linked to overcrowding, illegal trafficking, and poor disease surveillance. These imports may also expose workers and communities to dangerous pathogens, including tuberculosis and herpes B virus.

If enacted, H.R. 8471 would stop the importation of monkeys for experimentation except for limited, clearly defined exceptions, protecting both animals and public health.

Primates - and all living beings -  deserve safety and protection, not lives spent suffering in laboratory cages.

 Please stand with the Marina Legacy Foundation.  Sign our petition urging the House Committee on Ways and Means to pass the PRIMATE Act and help end this cruel trade.

Join the Marina Legacy Foundation in demanding better for these vulnerable primates. We can't remain silent while they suffer in the name of science. Please add your voice to ours and urge policymakers to ban the importation of monkeys for laboratory testing. Let's protect these intelligent beings and advocate for a more humane approach to scientific discovery. Sign this petition today and stand with us in making a difference.