Meet Beamish, a 16-year-old monkey currently imprisoned at the Maryland National Institutes of Health lab. His medical record is riddled with episodes of extensive hair loss, which is an outward sign of extreme psychological stress. Records show that at some point he was missing up to 73% of his body hair. There are numerous records of him circling in his cage or rocking back and forth, which also indicates a serious mental disorder. PETA’s videos show his mental breakdown as he paces endlessly in a cramped, sterile cage.
Beamish sustained multiple injuries to his fingers, injuries from the cage, or possibly from the stress of a monkey in a nearby cage. He experienced rectal prolapse – in which part of the rectum protrudes from the anus, a sign of trauma – and staff records indicate that he had multiple bowel problems. He had several bouts of diarrhea, dermatitis, erythema (redness of the skin) and other diseases.
He underwent several surgeries, invasive procedures, and blood samples. He was tied to an MRI machine. His brain is deliberately and irreversibly damaged, part of his skull was cut for this. He was teased by realistic looking fake spiders and snakes – some of any monkey’s worst fears. And with it all, Beamish was alone in a cage – the most unnatural condition imaginable for monkeys, whose complex family structure is as important to their mental health as food or water is to their physical well-being.
How did he get here?
Beamish’s story
The new “laboratory equipment” arrived on January 1, 2005 at Alpha Genesis, a commercial monkey business that sells living things, along with their bodily fluids, hair, skin, and other parts, to laboratories across the country for experimentation.
The new inventory, the baby monkey, was later named Beamish. His future will be marked by horror, pain and wretched despair. He will be forced to endure the whims and will of his captors, and he will only be allowed to live as long as he fulfills their goals.
After about 16 years and unspeakable horrors, Beamish is currently incarcerated in the laboratory of the National Institutes of Health with Elizabeth Murray, who opened his skull, sucked off part of his brain and injected toxins into it. He was seen lying in a cold metal cage under unnaturally bright fluorescent lamps, all alone.
Beamish never asked for this. He never agreed to be used for experiments. He cannot even die and avoid suffering unless those who control his life want it.
In February 2020, PETA requested documents on five monkeys, including Beamish, that are being held in Murray’s lab. It took 18 months and a lawsuit to get them out of the NIH’s clutches. We now know why.
In 2007, when he was 2 years old, Beamish was sent to the NIH, where he was used by two vivisectors at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, headed by Anthony Fauci. For this research, he was sent to the horrific infectious disease laboratory in Rockville, Maryland, called BIOQUAL (formerly known as SEMA), where chimpanzees were driven insane in refrigerator-sized cages and now houses hundreds of monkeys of all kinds. in sterile metal cages a little larger than their bodies, until the hands of cruel experimenters extract them.
Just after his fifth birthday, in 2010, Beamish was taken to Murray’s lab at the National Institutes of Health. Since then, he has remained there.
Apart from the short periods of being caged with another monkey — the longest of which was only nine months — Beamish was alone in the cage. The United Nations states that for people, any solitary confinement beyond 15 days is a form of torture. According to federal documents, Beamish has been putting up with this since March 2010. it eleven the years so far.
But experiments continue.
In more than 16 years of psychological anguish, serious medical problems, surgeries, and appalling physical and social impoverishment for Beamish, nothing has stopped the experiments. On several occasions, employees noted that he was lying prone in his cage or, with his head on his knees, did not respond, even to a touch. He just checked out of the world.
Sometimes Beamish is given some peanuts or a slice of apple, which Murray absurdly and euphemistically calls “enrichment.”
We need responsibility from NIH, NOW!
As disgusting as Beamish’s story is, it is tragically ubiquitous. He is one of hundreds of monkeys whose lives were stolen by Murray, spending $ 47 million in US taxpayer money. She inflicted immeasurable physical and psychological trauma on these vulnerable and sensitive creatures, using them to ensure a comfortable life for herself, with an excellent job at the NIH, tenure and, oddly enough, respect from her peers.
But in nearly 40 years, she hasn’t published anything of value to scientific research or human health. What she does is not science – it is violence. And this must be stopped.
What can you do
Tell the NIH that you will not tolerate your taxes being paid for tormenting monkeys:
Take action now!