House of Horrors part 2: Was the escape of 43 lab monkeys in South Carolina an act of intentional sabotage?
NIH contracts to former NIH employee turned CEO of company at heart of monkey experiments have quadrupled since the pandemic. What dystopian science experiments is your government funding?
On Nov 6, 2024, 43 primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis Inc. research laboratory in South Carolina sparking fear and speculation about an infectious diseases fallout in the communities surrounding the laboratory.
Whilst reasons for the escape of the rhesus macaques remains elusive, Alpha Genesis founder and CEO Gregory Westergaard now claims the release of the monkeys was "an intentional act" by an employee and under active investigation by their company.
Alpha Genesis CEO told ABC News that they’re actively investigating the possibility of intentional sabotage: "All the information we have thus far indicates that this is human error due to an employee failing to secure containment doors behind her, and a third door directly containing the animals, while doing routine cleaning and feeding," Westergaard said. "The enclosure was brand new and in perfect working order. We continue to investigate in an attempt to determine to the greatest extent possible whether this was or was not an intentional act."
To further deepen the mystery and intrigue, this company, Alpha Genesis, has been granted $19 million in federal contracts this year alone.
The sprawling 100 acre Alpha Genesis facility located in Beaufort County community of Yemassee houses a staggering 6,701 primates, at nearly triple the number of town residents and employs 275 people, plus 30 or more contractors.
Ostensibly, Alpha Genesis provides researchers across the country with biological products and materials, including serum, plasma, whole blood and tissue samples from a wide variety of research species. The company claims their researchers have helped develop several therapeutic drugs and vaccines, including those to treat the COVID-19.
Turns out this isn’t the first such incident of the great primate escape. A September 2022 USDA inspection report of Alpha Genesis found six separate incidents of animals escaping from their primary enclosures between January and August of 2022 and more than two dozen monkeys slipping out of the facility resulting in a USDA fine in 2014.
The 2022 USDA inspection report, which ABC News reviewed, also found an infant monkey died after becoming entangled in a stretch of gauze material used in an enclosure to hold a water bottle; said two primates were found dead in their enclosures with their fingers entrapped in structures inside their cages; and documented that one animal died from trauma and four others required veterinary care after they were placed in incorrect enclosures and were attacked by other primates unfamiliar with them.
Recent whistleblower testimony highlights dangerously deplorable living conditions of animals at Alpha Genesis.
An incident form dated June 27, 2022 said a vet tech was called to a situation where a monkeys tail was severed during “processing.” The form said the injury appeared to have “occurred by the tail being caught in the squeeze.” The monkey’s tail was held together by skin but the ligaments were severed and the vertebra was crushed. It was amputated, removing 15 inches of the monkey’s tail.
An undated email stated that a young monkey was found unconscious with critically low blood sugar. “Processing had been in there sedating earlier in the morning,” the email stated, and the monkey appears to have been left unattended before it woke up. “There really is no excuse for this to occur”
You can view the full whistleblower documents here.
Below you can see The Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) investigating the death of primates from severe dehydration due to non-functioning water supply equipment and employee falsification of records.
The official explanation for primate experiments is that the Chinese government, the world's primary breeder of research monkeys, banned the exports of nonhuman primates (NPH) to labs in the United States and elsewhere starting in 2020 and this created an international shortage of the animals just as research scientists were scrambling to come up with vaccines to combat COVID. Which is absolute bunkum since neither the mRNA vaccines nor protein based (Novavax) require monkeys for production. In fact DARPA mainstreamed mRNA vaccines based on the exact premise that the technology was independent of animal or tissue availability. Regular readers of this publication are well aware of the origin story of mRNA vaccines. But if you aren’t, here’s where you can brush up on it.
According to USASpending.gov, federal funding to Alpha Genesis has skyrocketed since the pandemic and is on track to quadruple since 2019. What kind of government funded research requires a jaw-dropping 300% increase of money spent in 4 years?
As you can see below, all of the nearly $20 million on primate experiments came from the NIH.
As if this whole ordeal isn’t already crazy enough, turns out Alpha Genesis CEO used to work at the NIH as a staff scientist. Is this yet another case of the revolving door between government entities and their contractors in the private sector greasing each others wheels? (To learn more about the revolving door and regulatory capture click here to read my exposition on how it all works)
This episode has echoes of the California House of Horrors wherein a Chinese citizen present illegally in the US and on the run from Canadian law enforcement was running an underground lab overflowing with dangerous bacteria and viruses with bioweapon potential. The CDC originally refused to investigate it. I wrote an exhaustive essay that can be read here:
As with the California House of Horrors, names of perpetrators are impossibly difficult to come by. The employee who let the monkeys escape in South Carolina “walked off the job” and has not returned. “I am told at that point the employee walked off the job and has not returned. We do not plan to publicly release the employee’s name,” said Greg Westergaard, the CEO of Alpha Genesis in a statement. How can a CEO claim intentional sabotage while protecting the identity of the alleged perpetrator?
As of Tuesday afternoon, 4 of the 43 monkeys who escaped the Alpha Genesis facility remain on the loose. South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace sent a letter to the USDA and NIH demanding a briefing regarding the monkey escape. She said this is only the latest in a long list of violations from the USDA and NIH-funded laboratory. Meanwhile Alpha Genesis CEO Westergaard said, "I spoke to the Congresswoman...and she said that she recognized the economic importance of Alpha Genesis to the people of the Lowcountry and that as a locally-owned business, she would continue to offer her full support.”
Recall that nothing really came out of the California House of Horrors investigation besides the usual cries of “xenophobia” and “conspiracy theory” on part of a terminally incurious media whose only real job is the maintenance of a state of perfect stupor and unquestioning adherence to the official narrative. One can only hope this time is different. But I won’t hold my breath on it.
Apparently Greg Westerguaard is multiple people, from his (“their”) bio.