43 Monkeys Escape HHS-Funded South Carolina Biolab Previously Warned by USDA for Federal Violations

Locals are now being advised to lock their doors and windows.

Two macaque monkeys are confined behind a metal mesh cage, gazing outward with subdued expressions. Their faces appear exposed, emphasizing their restricted, enclosed environment. (Lenka/Wikimedia Commons)

In yet another serious safety lapse, 43 rhesus macaques have escaped from Alpha Genesis, a biolab in Yemassee, South Carolina, that supplies primates for medical research.

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This is the fourth known incident with the company since 2014 where primates have breached containment—a clear indication of recurring failures at a facility with a documented history of negligence and federal violations.

Repeated Failures: Alpha Genesis’s Latest Escape Puts Community on Edge

The escape on November 6 happened after a new employee allegedly left two enclosure doors unsecured, allowing the juvenile monkeys to flee.

Residents are now being advised to lock their doors and windows, as law enforcement and Alpha Genesis staff scramble to contain the breach.

Yet, despite reassurances that the monkeys are “harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander’s statement offers little comfort to a community repeatedly placed at risk by Alpha Genesis’s operations.

This escape follows a troubling pattern.

Escapes were documented in 2014, 2016, and 2018—each time revealing new vulnerabilities and mismanagement.

These recurring lapses make it hard to dismiss this as a one-time error and instead point to systemic failures at Alpha Genesis.

USDA Warnings and Violations: Decades of Oversight Failures

Alpha Genesis has faced federal scrutiny for years, yet little seems to have changed.

In 2022, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued an official warning after documenting violations at the facility, including inadequate housing conditions, improper handling, and severe lapses in veterinary care.

The USDA’s findings included cases of monkey deaths due to strangulation, dehydration, and fatal injuries inflicted by other primates after incorrect social groupings.

The USDA’s warning and prior fines—including a $12,600 penalty in 2018—underscore the failure to enforce meaningful change at Alpha Genesis.

PETA: ‘Long History of Incompetence’ and Call for NIH Action

PETA has been vocal in condemning Alpha Genesis, pointing to a “long history of incompetence” that spans years of alleged negligence and deadly outcomes for the animals under its care.

In a 2022 statement, PETA detailed horrific incidents of strangulation, freezing, dehydration, and violent deaths that they attribute to Alpha Genesis’s mismanagement.

Notably, PETA has highlighted the facility’s $17 million contract with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of a larger call to end taxpayer-funded support for a lab that has failed repeatedly to meet basic standards of animal care and security.

The NIH has admitted to funding dangerous gain-of-function research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, said to be ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PETA’s demands raise questions about why the NIH and other federal agencies continue to fund operations at a facility with such an abysmal record.

Morgan Island: Expanding Risks from Alpha Genesis’s ‘Monkey Island’ Operations

Alpha Genesis’s influence and risk profile extends far beyond the Yemassee facility.

Known as “Monkey Island” by locals, Morgan Island is home to a massive colony of approximately 3,500 rhesus macaques managed by Alpha Genesis.

This isolated island in South Carolina’s Lowcountry is not just a breeding ground; it’s a high-stakes research site where primates are held, often for medical experiments funded by federal contracts.

In 2023, Alpha Genesis secured a multi-million-dollar contract with U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) to manage the colony, a decision that raises serious concerns given their documented lapses in security and animal welfare.

This island, off the coast near St. Helena Sound, sits alarmingly close to small communities that are now seeing the same systemic failures repeated at Alpha Genesis’s primary facility in Yemassee.

Community and Legislative Outcry

U.S. Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) has publicly shared that her office is “monitoring the situation,” but for residents of Yemassee and surrounding areas, this latest escape may be the breaking point.

The local community has endured years of negligence and is now facing another active threat to its safety.

As the company and authorities attempt to recapture the monkeys, public scrutiny intensifies, and calls for accountability mount.

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