The facility is expected to house up to 30,000 monkeys that will be shipped around the country for researchers to use in studies on infectious diseases and chronic conditions. Supporters say the project will bring more than 200 jobs to Bainbridge. And the city commission has agreed to give the facility a tax break for its first 10 years. But opponents worry about the negative impact the primates could have.
Bubba Stone, a community member who spoke during a recent city commission meeting, worries about the monkeys getting loose. He pointed to the Florida Everglades where Burmese Pythons, an invasive species that got released, wiped out large swaths of the area’s mammal population. Stone is worried something similar could happen if the monkeys from the proposed facility get loose leading to “an ecosystem that is ruined."
Other Bainbridge residents worry their property values will decline.
A scientist with the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, says the monkeys could increase the risk of disease. Lisa Jones Engel advises PETA on primate experimentation. She says disease could be carried through the animals' waste.
“An unmanageable amount of biological waste. Monkey urine, monkey feces, blood, saliva, and other bodily fluids, which along with these fluids will come to the infectious agents, the pathogens that are with them," says Engel.
PETA and community members plan to meet at the next county commission meeting, Tuesday, January 23, to further discuss their concerns regarding the breeding facility.
