Bainbridge residents worry about facility that would breed, house up to 30,000 monkeys
Dozens of Bainbridge residents gathered at Tuesday's city council meeting upset about their soon-to be neighbors: thousands and thousands of monkeys.
The Georgia city — just 40 miles from Florida's capital city and county — is planning to build the nation's largest monkey warehouse where up to 30,000 primates will be bred and housed.
Concerns about monkeys running wild, escaping during a hurricane, spread of disease, environmental impact and how the monkeys would be treated were all brought before the city leaders.
"This monkey breeding business is an all-time low," a Bainbridge resident said. "Money is one heck of a drug."
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also spoke out about the facility's inception in hopes of convincing the city council to shut the plans down before construction ever begins.
"At full capacity, the proposed facility in Bainbridge would produce more than 440,000 gallons of wastewater a day—enough feces, urine, saliva, and other fluids to nearly fill an Olympic-size swimming pool every day," PETA said in a press release. "This poses a major risk of environmental damage to nearby land."
This is a look at the city hall meeting in Bainbridge tonight —
People are lining the walls to speak out against a project to build a facility for raising monkeys for medical research.
At its peak, the facility would have an estimated 30,000 small monkeys in its care. pic.twitter.com/O43pZNA4DH— Savannah Kelley (@SavannahWCTV) January 16, 2024
Bainbridge Mayor Edward Reynolds pointed out Tuesday night that the development isn't a city project. But the city, alongside other local government entities, voted to approve a 100% tax abatement for the facility's first 10 years that will be reduced by 9% each year until fully taxable, according to the Bainbridge Post-Searchlight. Reynolds said this was the only time the city was involved.
Safer Human Medicine, the company building the massive monkey breeding ground, wrote an open letter to residents to address community pushback. The company emphasized that the facility is "strictly an animalhusbandry facility meant to house and care for primates," and won't be used for research.
The company said the monkeys will be housed in state-of-the-art facilities, provided with toys and kept in groups to foster playtime and interaction.
"The welfare of our animals will always come first, and we will provide them with the care they deserve," the company wrote.
Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Bainbridge, Georgia, residents push back on monkey breeding warehouse
