Federal Reports Show Violations at UW-Madison Primate Research Center
Documents show incidents of monkeys suffering. Facility hasn't been penalized by USDA.
UW-Madison on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. Angela Major/WPR
A national animal welfare group says federal documents show repeated incidents of monkeys suffering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s National Primate Research Center.
The National Anti-Vivisection Society, or NAVS, found that in 2025, monkeys experienced inadequate veterinary care, painful procedures without proper relief and unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
Eight monkeys did not receive post-experiment pain medication as required, according to NAVS’s third annual Laboratory Animal Care Audit, which uses data from welfare violations documented by the United States Department of Agriculture.
“The University of Wisconsin-Madison has popped up time and time again as a facility that violates the Animal Welfare Act in ways that really harm and hurt the animals in their care,” said Meredith Blanchard, director of advocacy and sanctuary at NAVS.
UW-Madison spokesperson Gillian Drummond said USDA inspectors conducted a routine review of animals, facilities and associated records across campus in February 2025, which resulted in three citations.
“The university takes all incidents seriously and corrective actions to prevent future occurrences were already in place by the time USDA inspectors made their unannounced visit,” Drummond said.
The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center is part of the National Primate Research Centers program, which has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1961.
The center employs close to 200 scientific staff, research and animal services staff, administrative and operations staff, and UW–Madison veterinary, post-doc, graduate, undergraduate and research trainees.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the center has about 1,500 primates, including 1,120 rhesus macaques, 221 common marmosets and 245 cynomolgus macaques.
According to the NIH, current research at Madison’s primate center is focused on global infectious disease; regenerative and reproductive medicine; chronic disease and aging research; and neuroscience, including Parkinson’s disease, basic studies of the central nervous system mechanisms controlling, and research into stress, anxiety and depression.
Along with the issues cited by NAVS on veterinary care, pain medication and unsafe conditions, the USDA inspection found monkeys at UW-Madison were injured after an enclosure divider was left unlocked; a marmoset required surgery after injuring a finger in a cage gap; and a macaque was injured because its enclosure was broken.
“What we really see, especially with non-human primates, is they’re just so smart and they’re so intent on getting out of the laboratory environment that they’re constantly looking for ways to escape,” Blanchard said. “They’re constantly harming themselves in an attempt to remove themselves from their current situation, which is just really sad.”
The USDA is responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act and conducts regular inspections of animal facilities, including the UW-Madison Primate Research center.
Still, the federal government rarely fines facilities, Blanchard said.
Despite violations in 2025 at 92 animal use laboratories across 28 states —including 45 facilities that have appeared in previous NAVS audits — not one facility has been penalized for the violations documented in this year’s report, Blanchard said.
The primate research conducted at UW-Madison’s Harlow Lab and Wisconsin National Primate Research Center has been the subject of controversy for many years. Groups including PETA and the Animal Legal Defense Fund have repeatedly filed complaints urging USDA to file charges.
Blanchard said all the national primate research centers are violating the standards of the Animal Welfare Act, but she is concerned with UW-Madison in particular because it does so “time and time again,” with very little accountability that would force changes in researchers’ practice.”
In 2022, the USDA investigated the university’s Primate Research Center following a complaint made by PETA. UW-Madison paid a $77,000 fine to cover incidents that occurred between August of 2019 and June of 2022.
In April 2020, the university was fined $74,000 by USDA for violations at the primate center that occurred between March 2015 and April 2019.
Federal reports show violations at UW-Madison primate research center was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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