Small town residents unite to fight a common enemy: A huge monkey farm

BAINBRIDGE, Ga. – Most mornings, just after dawn, Penny Reynolds strolls a familiar path through the backyard of her 9-acre property, sprinkling handfuls of corn for the neighborhood deer.

The ritual, which Reynolds has upheld for more than 40 years, is one of many daily pleasures now haunted by one worry: Will it be ruined by the monkeys?

Local officials in Bainbridge, Georgia, a rural outpost 20 miles north of the Florida Panhandle, recently approved a start-up’s plan to build one of the largest monkey breeding facilities in the nation. At its capacity, the $396 million complex would hold some 30,000 monkeys – double the city’s human population.

“It’s unreal,” said Reynolds, 77, whose property line borders the site cleared for the 200-acre facility. “Our world is upside down.”

Safer Human Medicine, the company behind the project, says the long-tailed macaques will be bred and sold to pharmaceutical companies, universities and laboratories for medical research studies. The company hopes to finish construction and welcome its first monkeys later this year.

Monkeys, because of their similarities to humans, have been essential to research for a wide range of diseases and infections and have led to breakthrough treatments for Parkinson's, sickle cell disease, polio and COVID-19, according to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. But getting enough monkeys has become more difficult. Most historically came from China, which stopped the import of monkeys to the U.S. in 2020.

Ever since, the biomedical research industry has been scrambling to expand its breeding facilities in the United States ‒ much to some communities' dismay.

In a leafy suburb of Houston last year, residents quickly sank a plan to build a monkey farm, citing concerns over waste, pollution and treatment of the animals. Critics have said using monkeys as research subjects is immoral, but the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine maintain that based on the "current state of the science," there are "no alternatives that can fully replace nonhuman primates."

In Georgia, an expanding group of locals and animal rights activists is set on stopping the monkey breeding plan before construction begins. Concerns are wide-ranging, fervent and, in some cases, run hyperbolic.

“It’s like putting a nuclear plant in your backyard,” said 65-year-old James Chestnut, a retired clay miner who lives less than a mile from the proposed building site. “Think about what this thing is going to smell like.”

Homes and business around town have been fitted with signs urging “STOP THE MONKEY FARM.” Over 5,000 people joined the active Facebook group “No Monkey Breeding Bainbridge, GA!” And lines for entry into recent city and county commission meetings, which often fail to get more than a dozen residents, have stretched to the parking lot.

Residents who spoke with USA TODAY say their property values will plummet. They fear the monkeys might spread diseases and – in the case of a major hurricane or tornado – escape. They're concerned the facility’s waste may damage the environment, especially the nearby Flint River, which flows into Lake Seminole and whose waters eventually reach the Gulf of Mexico. The river is a prized local jewel, where residents swim and nationally recognized fishing competitions are held. It's also the city’s largest tourist attraction.

In a letter to residents, Safer Human Medicine said the monkeys housed in the facility "will not pose a threat to the citizens" and "nothing discharged from our facility will create an environmental hazard or risk." It added that worries of breakouts, the smell, noise and the monkey's care are concerns they've considered and have addressed in the facility's design.

"We look forward to being a great neighbor as we get to know you all in the community," the letter said.

Residents remain unconvinced.

“This is a disaster,” Reynolds said, while standing outside her home and looking at the tree line that separates her property from the project site. “I don’t want the kids playing out here, breathing in that monkey stuff. What if one gets out? That’s all it takes.”

A deal shrouded in secrecy

The head of the local development agency is quick to give assurances of the planned facility's safety and security. “It’s a cross between a maximum security prison and a daycare," explained Rick McCaskill, executive director of the Development Authority of Bainbridge and Decatur County.

Renderings of the complex released by Safer Human Medicine show monkeys in rooms surrounded by toys and obstacles. The company said in a letter the monkeys will be secured in enclosures but will have ample space "to forage, eat and play."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will test any monkeys brought in from overseas to try and catch cases of tuberculosis, salmonella or other infections, though it's not a failsafe process. The company says it would take up to nine years before the complex reaches its goal of 30,000 monkeys.

Local officials say the place will be a boon to the area’s economy and to the families who depend on it. McCaskill said the facility will bring more than 250 good-paying jobs. With wages starting at $18 to $22 an hour and full benefits, it will have the highest base pay in the county.

In return, the company got something of a sweetheart deal: a no-charge lease of 200 acres and a 100% tax abatement for the first 10 years, McCaskill said. As part of the agreement, Safer Human Medicine promised to invest in the greater community through buying from local businesses, educational collaborations, co-ops and internships.

The process, however, was cloaked in secrecy, raising residents’ ire and suspicions. County and city officials shepherding the project had to sign non-disclosure agreements, so the public wasn’t notified until the day the deal with Safer Human Medicine was inked. "That's how these big projects work," McCaskill said.

But residents say the jobs are not worth the risks, and the public had little input.

“They should have talked to us,” said 70-year-old David Barber, a semi-retired farmer whose property is less than 1,000 feet from the proposed facility. “We shouldn’t have had to find out about this in the paper.”

A new company led by longtime breeding executives

Safer Human Medicine is a new company, incorporated only last February amid the search for a monkey farm site. But the executives in charge are no strangers to animal breeding for medical research, including at companies that have sparked controversy and drawn the attention of federal regulators.

Safer Human's Chief Operating Officer, Kurt Derfler, was executive director of nonhuman primate operations for one of the largest companies in the industry, Charles River Laboratories, from February 2021 to May 2023, according to his LinkedIn. A few months before he left, in February 2023, the Department of Justice subpoenaed the company as part of an investigation into whether Charles River Laboratories smuggled monkeys from Cambodia and falsely labeled them as bred in captivity, according to a company filing with the SEC. The company, which declined to comment to USA TODAY, suspended shipments from Cambodia and maintains that concerns regarding its conduct "are without merit," the filing said.

Safer Human Medicine's Chief Executive Officer, Jim Harkness, oversaw operations at Envigo, another large breeder for medical research, from June 2019 to October 2022, according to his LinkedIn. That company had to relocate some 4,000 beagles from a breeding facility in July 2022 after a series of animal welfare violations, according to court records. USDA inspections over the previous year had found dogs were underfed, received insufficient health care and were euthanized without anesthesia. Envigo agreed to shut down the facility and give beagles to the Humane Society as part of a settlement with DOJ. Envigo did not respond to messages Friday seeking comment.

Safer Human Medicine said in a statement provided to USA TODAY that the company is committed to building a safe, state of-the-art facility that fills a critical need in the pharmaceutical research field.

“The leadership of Safer Human Medicine have dedicated their careers to responsibly managing and caring for animals in medical research,” the company said. “We are all proud to have done our part in making safe, life-saving medicines a reality to Americans and their families. We have always been committed to operating responsibly and ethically throughout our many decades in this field.”

Company President David Johst said in an interview that experience in the industry will be a plus for the Bainbridge project. He spent nearly three decades as an executive at Charles River Laboratories before retiring in 2020 – a few years before the monkey smuggling investigation.

“We're building this from the ground up, and we're going to do it to the highest standards," he said. "Give us a chance. Let us show you how we can do this right and how well we can do this.”

Monkey shortage is ‘a crisis,’ experts say

Private companies and their ambitious monkey farm proposals come as the nation’s science community is grappling with a shortage of research monkeys. Even though the planned capacity of the Bainbridge facility seems large at 30,000, nearly four times that many monkeys resided in U.S. research facilities in 2021, according to a report from the Department of Agriculture.

The yearslong problem was made worse in 2020 by China’s export ban, which immediately cut by 60% the country’s imported monkey supply, according to a government report. The report, released in May by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine says the nation’s insufficient stock has begun to hamper biomedical research and said the country needs to build out its infrastructure – including its “domestic breeding colonies.”

Dr. JoAnne Flynn, a microbiologist at the University of Pittsburgh who studies tuberculosis, said she’s had to abandon projects, particularly those involving cynomolgus macaques, because of the shortage. She called the situation “nothing less than a crisis.”

“We can't get them,” she said. “This has had a huge ripple effect throughout the entire nonhuman primate community, not just for us, but everyone I know.”

Locals organize, catch a break on a technicality

For many Bainbridge residents, Tuesday was packed with meetings and more monkey talk.

First, over 150 people, most of whom took off work or are retired, crammed into a conference room at the town's Holiday Inn Express to discuss their resistance.

Throughout the meeting, which was led by Amy Meyer, PETA manager of primate experimentation campaigns, people yelled out questions asking how the water may be affected, who was in charge of making anti-monkey farm shirts and if they should plan a protest (nearly everyone in the room kept their hands down when Meyer asked how many had previously participated in a protest).

The most common question was whether they had an actual chance of stopping the project from moving forward. Meyer said PETA’s lawyers were looking into the deal struck between the company and the local government but encouraged residents to speak to their local officials and show up in large numbers at city and county commission meetings.

That night, every seat in the county commission chamber was taken and scores of people crowded behind them in a mass that spilled out into the parking lot.

Then, a bit of welcome news: The agreement granting Safer Human Medicine tax breaks would be voided because the commission didn't properly notify the public before approving it in December. The move didn't halt the project or nullify the land lease deal since the city of Bainbridge owns the land, not the county.

But it did come with some contrition. “I looked at the tax dollars this would generate; I should have looked harder at the human side of it," Decatur County Chairman Pete Stephens said. "I’ve learned a lesson.”

And it was a step forward for concerned residents who hailed the announcement with rapturous applause, cheers and calls to “praise the lord!"

On his way out of the meeting, Chestnut, a lifelong Bainbridge resident, said he's proud of his friends and neighbors for their unified response to the project, which he believes is what led the county to its decision.

"I hope it keeps going this way," he said. "We can't give up now. We gotta keep telling them, 'We don't want this in Bainbridge.'"

Contact Christopher Cann by email at [email protected] or follow him on X @ChrisCannFL.