News

Jun 10, 2025

Monkey Island SC contract reveals dangerous conditions

Investigative reporter Marilyn W. Thompson is a veteran investigative reporter andeditor who works on the Projects team. She has authored orco-authored four non-fiction books. A remote South Carolina

Investigative reporter

Marilyn W. Thompson is a veteran investigative reporter andeditor who works on the Projects team. She has authored orco-authored four non-fiction books.

A remote South Carolina island that is home to as many as 3,500 research monkeys poses so many “potentially life-threatening situations” that caretakers must bar the public and prosecute trespassers, according to federal contract documents reviewed by The Post and Courier.

The contract paints a far more alarming picture of security risks and health dangers on so-called “Monkey Island” than government officials and contractor Alpha Genesis have acknowledged. Alpha Genesis, which took over the colony’s management in 2023, recently received another $4.1 million from the National Institutes of Health to run the project for another year.

The 88-page contract requires 24/7 staffing at the island and demands that all employees be trained in the “sensitive nature” of the work and proper animal care.

The contract imposes a strict “no visitors” policy to the Beaufort County island and says anyone coming on the island must show proof of numerous vaccines and medical tests to prevent disease transmission from monkeys to human or vice versa. It details concerns that monkeys can spread a form of herpes virus known to be fatal to humans. Monkey bites and scratches can also transmit Ebola, monkeypox and other communicable diseases.

The contract requires updated tetanus shots and vaccines for official visitors, and it says face masks must be worn by all personnel to protect the colony.

The contract forbids trespassing and says “the government encourages prosecution of any individuals or groups to the greatest extent of the law to ensure the health and welfare of the colony.”

“Due to the uniqueness and remoteness of the island operation, as well as an enormous number of critical and potentially life-threatening situations and decisions that arise from the remote operation, the contractor must ensure that all staff are cross-trained,” the contract states.

The contract and other federal documents describing Morgan Island’s operations were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by White Coat Waste, an animal rights group that has targeted projects involving former NIH Director Anthony Fauci. The group shared the documents with The Post and Courier, which recently observed the island by boat during a regular workday.

"Taxpayers have a right to know how their hard-earned money is still being wasted by Fauci’s former NIH division to breed primates on public property for future use in painful and deadly experiments that we’re also forced to fund,” said Justin Goodman, senior vice president at White Coat Waste.

Greg Westergaard, the CEO of Alpha Genesis, believes the breeding colony has a proven safety record and said that storms are the main danger on the island.

“People have been driving their boats past the island for nearly 50 years without any adverse interactions. The current policy has proven sufficient to protect the monkeys and the public,” he said.

NIH did not respond to a request for comment.

The documents, combined with Post and Courier photos made from a surrounding waterway, also raise questions about how rigorously the contractor monitors safety compliance among employees and other workers, including the requirement to wear personal protective equipment around the monkeys.

On a recent boat trip, Post and Courier journalists saw some workers wearing gloves while cleaning equipment, one with eye goggles perched on his forehead. One worker wore no protective equipment.

Westergaard said, “All contractors must sign in and adhere to strict health and PPE requirements. These records are inspected multiple times per year.”

Westergaard said if an employee did not wear PPE they would receive a verbal warning and retraining. They would be subject to termination if violations continued.

Officials at agencies in South Carolina, which owns the property, and NIH, which owns the monkeys, have repeatedly said few risks are posed by the prolific breeding colony in the St. Helena Sound. Its population of free-ranging primates fluctuates with each breeding season. The most recent census filed with NIH last spring counted 3,370 monkeys, including 823 infants.

The federal government has not publicly estimated the value of the rhesus monkeys, which are of Indian origin, although prices have escalated rapidly in recent years. They currently sell for as much as $25,000 per monkey, according to industry estimates.

Westergaard said it is impossible to estimate the island’s value to researchers. The island is the largest colony of free-ranging monkeys in the U.S.

Monkeys have lived undisturbed on the island since 1979, and about 500 a year are trapped, ferried to the mainland and trucked away to an NIH holding facility in Maryland, the documents show. From there, they are distributed to federal scientists for laboratory experiments on new vaccines, medications and devices. Most monkeys are euthanized after the tests.

Alpha Genesis also runs monkey farms in Yemassee and Early Branch, and it attracted global attention when 43 research monkeys escaped from its facility last November. All of the monkeys were eventually recaptured.

The Morgan Island contract requires that Alpha Genesis maintain detailed records of the monkey population, including any primate deaths, escapes or terminated pregnancies. It expects that 70 percent of the females on the island will give birth once a year.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Charleston Republican, has targeted federal expenditures for Morgan Island as wasteful and unethical because of animal cruelty in the federal experiments.

The Post and Courier toured Monkey Island three times in four years in the early 2000s, and photographers and a reporter were not required to wear protective clothing.

About two hours from Beaufort by boat, the island in the St. Helena Sound is posted with ominous "No Trespassing" signs and warnings not to disturb the monkeys, which play along the shoreline and entertain passing boaters.

Investigative reporter

Marilyn W. Thompson is a veteran investigative reporter andeditor who works on the Projects team. She has authored orco-authored four non-fiction books.