People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) turned to the Washington Free Beacon in its fight against the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) treatment of baby monkeys.
"SPOTTED in DC," PETA tweeted at a Free Beacon reporter on Friday. "Street art protesting the NIH's cruel experiments on baby monkeys."
@lizwfb SPOTTED in DC: street art protesting the NIH's cruel experiments on baby monkeys http://t.co/MO6FMWwTgf pic.twitter.com/ih6VsI9MXo
— PETA (@peta) June 26, 2015
"If you’re in D.C., look closely at the next metro stop, and you may spot a tiny, mournful face peering from behind prison bars, hands reaching towards freedom," PETA said in a release announcing the campaign. "Renowned street artist Dan Witz is spreading an art campaign of shocking images across the city to draw attention to the plight of baby monkeys subjected to cruel psychological experiments at NIH."
"As documented by a PETA video exposé, monkeys at NIH are bred to be predisposed to depression, separated from their mothers within hours of birth, isolated in tiny cages, and subjected to terrifying experiments," PETA said.
The conditions are not unlike the treatment of bunnies that were used to test government-funded "Origami condoms." Daniel Resnic, who received $2.4 million from the NIH, tested his condoms on rabbits, which had pieces of silicone vaginally inserted for five days before they were "sacrificed" by lethal injection.
Resnic was later accused of massive fraud, and has to pay back at least a portion of taxpayer funds he received.
"No animal should have to suffer and die to test condoms," PETA said at the time.
The NIH responded to PETA’s street art campaign with a link to a statement from January, saying, "Research with non-human primates and other animal species is key to helping us understand and improve human health in a multitude of ways, including the development of treatments and interventions."
The NIH said the experiments are to "understand how genetic and environmental factors interact to affect cognitive development," and cannot be carried out on humans.
"NIH takes animal welfare concerns seriously, and has numerous policies and protocols in place to assure the ethical treatment and use of these invaluable resources," they said.