Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!
S. A. E. N.
"Exposing the truth to wipe out animal experimentation"

Resources and Links
Facility Reports and Information
Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR
OHSU Anonymous Whistleblower Statement, 2011

"This lab performed animal experiments involving pain or distress but no analgesics, anesthetics or pain relievers were administered."

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Oregon Health Sciences University/Oregon Primate Research Center

The Primate Center at the Oregon Health Sciences University is made up largely of white concrete rooms, steel cages, and only a shelf of barred steel for the primates to sleep on. Some rooms had lots of macaques, two cages high and on both sides of the room, some less. They get monkey biscuits every day, their main diet, and a few veggies.

Psychological enrichment consisted of a piece of white plastic/acrylic, maybe two inches by five, with holes drilled in it to stuff raisins into, hanging on the outside of the cage. Or an apparatus similar to a bird feeder, tall and narrow, that we put granola into. Only macaques that were self-injuring or pulling out their hair had these. And, I believe, there was only one television that I ever saw for the whole section of the lab I worked in. It got moved to different rooms, of which there were many, but not very often. It took either four or five of us to hose the cages, and yes, the monkeys got wet. It took awhile to gain skill in that area and the hose had a lot of pressure. And there were a lot of feces under the cages when we cleaned. That done, many had been taught to jump into a small metal cage and to stick their arm out for blood draws and for a treat.

There were studies on aging, cocaine, and aids in a separate unit, and tests regarding genetic altering. I was cautioned too not touch the syringe even.

I remember that one rather large male macaque was made to walk down the hall, with a ring around his neck and steel bars extending to walk him at a safe distance. Then he was walked into a room and strapped into a chair and what looked like tinfoil wrapped around his penis with wires going to it and a shock delivered to cause him to ejaculate almost instantaneously. Then he was taken back to his steel cage, he seemed to almost fill it, in a white concrete room.

Other than facing each other across the room, their lives were isolated, except for a few rare couples. One macaque was in a room alone, in the standard metal cage.

Some monkeys had vests with a tube which ran out of the back.

I was once allowed to watch a necropsy. No medications, the monkey was made to bleed, then cut open and organs removed as he bled to death. Was told it was necessary for accurate studies.

At some point, it became my duty to hang tags indicating surgery or euthanasia. Each had a different color, and I believe the monkeys knew the difference. I know what anthropomorphism is, and as a caregiver, I knew something about objective observation. I kept seeing the same behaviors. The monkeys with the euthanasia tags crouched further back in the cage and hardly screeched. I saw cowering in the corner, loud vocalizing, and grimacing when I hung the tags. They were colored differently for surgery or necropsy, and the tags for their termination were recognized. The macaques who were going for surgery continued to scream and fuss. They knew they were coming back.