CDC plan to retire lab monkeys to Texas sanctuary draws ire

Biomedical experts and a leading primate sanctuary are blasting a plan by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to retire more than 160 of its research monkeys to Born Free USA, a primate sanctuary in southern Texas. Critics say the proposal, posted on a government website on Wednesday, was made without consulting experts, does not specify how the transfer or lifetime care of the animals would be funded, and could endanger the monkeys if they’re not carefully integrated into their new home, which already houses large troops of primates. “If they’re just going to throw all of these monkeys together, half of them could die,” says Melissa Berg, associate director of animal resources at the Washington National Biomedical Research Center (WNBRC). She says her center had offered to retire the animals to WNBRC’s breeding facility in Mesa, Arizona, where many originated and where they would have access to outdoor enclosures. But Berg says CDC never contacted them. “No one who cares about monkeys would propose this plan,” says Matthew Novak, WNBRC’s associate director of global conservation, education, and outreach. Born Free did not respond to requests for comment, and CDC did not provide details to Science about the plan. “We do not comment on ongoing acquisitions,” an agency spokesperson says. But Valerie Taylor, executive director of the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), calls Born Free an “exemplary facility.” She says her organization has repeatedly accredited it since 2009. “I have no concerns about them at all.” CDC decided to phase out all its monkey research in November 2025—the first time a U.S. agency had ended its in-house nonhuman primate program. The scientists who worked with the animals—largely used in HIV-prevention studies—hoped they could be either transferred to other biomedical facilities, where the research could continue, or retired at one of the seven National Primate Research Centers, which have extensive experience with lab monkeys. But from the beginning, CDC seemed set on sending the animals to a more naturalistic setting not affiliated with scientific research. In October, Sam Beyda, a recent college graduate who was named CDC’s deputy chief of staff late last year, reached out to the Peaceable Primate Sanctuary, one of the largest monkey refuges in North America, and one with a long track record of retiring former lab animals. Scott Kubisch, head of the Winamac, Indiana–based facility, said he was eager to receive the monkeys, calculating that the plan would cost $14 million and require at least 1 year of preparation. He heard nothing after that. Then, 2 days ago, Kubisch saw the CDC posting. On Sam.gov, a site for government contractors, the agency stated it would transfer up to 162 rhesus and pigtail macaques to Born Free. The sanctuary, located on 70 hectares of brushland in Cotulla, not far from the Mexican border, is home to about 250 primates of various species. On its website, Born Free states it “provides large, free-ranging environments that allow the majority of the monkeys to live as natural a life as possible with a minimal amount of human interference.” Though its posting is listed as a “contract opportunity,” CDC said it was not seeking offers from other primate facilities. “Based on market research, Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary is the only GFAS-accredited source that can satisfy CDC’s combined requirements for accreditation, species expertise, capacity, and performance schedule,” the posting said, although it added CDC would consider responses received in the next 15 days. The post also did not specify how much the transfer or lifetime care of the animals would cost, nor how it would be paid for. Kubisch was blindsided by the news. He says he questions how extensive CDC’s market research was, given that neither he nor other primate facilities he knows were contacted. “I’m not saying Born Free is the wrong choice,” he says. “But CDC didn’t give anyone else a chance to make a reasonable proposal.” Kubisch notes that the CDC monkeys are used to living alone or in pairs, whereas the Born Free animals live in large troops of dozens of individuals. “It’s very difficult to incorporate animals into big, stable groups without them getting injured or killed.” And unlike other primate centers, including Peaceable Primate and WNBRC, Born Free is not overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which conducts regular inspections and enforces federal welfare guidelines. Though GFAS does conduct inspections, its reports—unlike those of USDA—are confidential, Kubisch notes. “We’ll have no idea what happens to these animals once they enter Born Free.” Taylor says GFAS imposes strict welfare standards, and that any introduction of new animals that would compromise their safety would violate its guidelines. “Born Free is the largest GFAS-accredited sanctuary in the U.S. that houses monkeys,” she says. “I feel very confident in the care they can offer.” On its posting, CDC indicates that one of the main reasons it chose Born Free was because the sanctuary said it could take the monkeys quickly, requiring only 12 weeks to build up the necessary infrastructure. The animals “need to be rehomed as soon as possible” because their current housing is “designed for quarantine and research activities,” the post states. “This expedited timeframe greatly reduces stress on the animals and ensures their health and well-being are the top priority.” But Kubisch says 12 weeks is a “ludicrous time frame,” especially given the additional staff that will likely need to be hired to care for the animals. Novak worries the plan will have repercussions far beyond CDC’s monkeys. Thousands of federally funded animals live in labs across the country, and—especially in light of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s stated goal of ending all animal research—he’s concerned that any moves to retire them quickly could follow what he sees as the same flawed process CDC has embarked on. “It sets a horrible precedent for the future,” Novak says. “We need to make it clear that this is not how this should be done.”