Safer Human Medicine is moving forward with a controversial expansion, announcing Tuesday the purchase of a holding facility in Hendry County to house non-human primates for research purposes.
The move is part of the company’s plan to grow its primate husbandry operations, complementing its Bainbridge, Georgia, headquarters and a larger facility in development.
While SHM says the site will help accelerate its holding and quarantine operations, those against it argue it raises ethical concerns over the treatment and use of primates in medical testing.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, also known as PETA , reported that they uncovered the "secretly orchestrated" deal between monkey importer Charles River Laboratories and SIMI United States, LLC.
SIMI United Staes, LLC , is a company that was newly created by executives behind Safer Human Medicine. Peta said SHM intends on using the newly acquired facility as a "gigantic monkey farm and warehouse."
SHM said the Hendry County purchase allows the company to accelerate its holding and quarantine operations for non-human primates while supporting the development of its larger facility in Georgia.
The company said the Hendry County site will offer several key advantages as well, including the following:
- Efficient resource allocation : SHM will conduct quarantine operations at the Labelle site, allowing the Bainbridge facility to focus on NHP husbandry.
- Experienced workforce : The Labelle site will be operational and staffed before the Bainbridge facility opens, allowing SHM to provide hands-on training for new Bainbridge employees and ensure operational readiness and efficiency.
- Operational excellence : Having another facility focused on quarantine gives SHM a head start in establishing operational processes that uphold the highest standards of safety, animal welfare, and environmental responsibility. These processes and experience will be invaluable for the team when it opens the facility in Bainbridge.
"We are extremely confident in our ability to integrate thesite into our broader operational plans," said Jim Harkness, CEO of Safer Human Medicine. "This acquisition not only accelerates our timeline for launching operations in Bainbridge but also ensures the highest safety and compliance standards as we expand."
According to records, Charles River Laboratories is holding the mortgage for the deal with SIMI.
SHM said the existing Hendry County site represents a critical step toward their mission of advancing medical research safely and efficiently.
PETA claims the companies tried to keep the deal hidden and SIMI was created as a "shell company" to protect itself from public backlash for operating a monkey farm.
On the counter-part, SHM said the acquisition supports its broader commitment to economic growth and job creation in Bainbridge.
People who live nearby the facility off State Road 80, between Alva and Labelle, are surprised to find out thousands of monkeys could be moving there for research.
"If the if animals escape, you don't know what kind of diseases that they're injecting them with or whatever. You don't know what kind of diseases they spread," said Debra Layman. "I don't believe in doing research on any kind of animal. There's better ways to do things."
Others like Ernest Lee are hoping the research can lead to cures.
"If it's going to make a change in human life," he said.
Gulf Coast News reached out to Safer Human Medicine to ask how many monkeys they plan to keep at the facility and what kinds of testing will be done, but we haven't heard back.
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