YEMASSEE -- Greg Westergaard has built his career around monkeys, tracking their most-intimate behaviors and selling them to laboratories to serve as test subjects for cutting-edge drug development and medical procedures.
His Alpha Genesis monkey farm has won more than $113 million in federal money since 2005, mostly to maintain a secure, pathogen-free environment to raise primates. But the recent escape of 43 rhesus macaques through a series of gates, over a fence and into the surrounding woods has raised questions about the safety of his business, which has grown rapidly amid increasing demands for American primate production in the name of scientific research.
After the third major monkey escape in the past decade, Westergaard has put aside expansion plans and is preparing for federal agencies to investigate his sprawling campuses in Beaufort and Hampton counties.
Westergaard, the company's president, said client confidentiality keeps him from discussing much of the research that uses Alpha Genesis primates, but scientific papers and other public documents show that its monkeys have been used to address some of the largest public health challenges in the modern era. He defends this science despite the pain and premature death his animals have endured.
Westergaard has heard complaints from animal rights groups, which want the recaptured monkeys moved to a sanctuary, and the harsh criticisms of S.C. Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who has questioned the safety of his facility.
He maintains that Alpha Genesis researchers work only with "low-level pathogens" that are "impossible basically to cause any bad, crazy outbreak."
Mace, the Daniel Island Republican whose district covers part of Alpha Genesis's Lowcountry footprint, signaled that she would be supportive during a phone call soon after the escape, Westergaard said. Her negative public comments about safety risks have shocked him. She has never visited the labs, and "I don't think she has a clue as to what we do," he said.
The congresswoman staged a media event in 2021 at Morgan Island, where Alpha Genesis keeps monkeys bound for government laboratories, to bring attention to then-NIH Director Anthony Fauci and his use of animals for "cruel experiments." Another company ran the Morgan Island operation at the time.
Mace did not answer detailed questions from The Post and Courier about the interaction. Instead, her office emailed a statement.
"We have been crystal clear: We oppose breeding and testing on primates -- or any animals -- especially when it's funded by taxpayer dollars," it read in its entirety.
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While Westergaard mulls new protocols, four monkeys that decamped to the S.C. wilderness remain at large as of Nov. 22 -- a rescue mission aided by police, curious townsfolk and lines of snacks leading to harmless traps. He can identify each monkey by the tattoo on its chest and distinguishing hair dye.
The early-November sabbatical created headlines around the world, which provided fodder for late-night comics Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and the "Saturday Night Live" cast, and prompted a popular Port Royal craft brewery to host a race for people dressed in monkey costumes.
Many of the monkeys in the now world-famous escape are destined for experiments supported by the National Institutes of Health, a major Alpha Genesis funder.
Westergaard's company cares for 10,000 monkeys, mostly by maintaining breeding colonies that clients can pluck for research. Alpha Genesis itself owns 2,000 monkeys that it sells.
The company also offers monkey products like blood and serum, collected by its veterinarians at a test facility on site. Westergaard said the typical test conducted at the facility might involve studying medication dosing and recording the results. His company advertises services such as pathogen screening, training and dietary acclimation, along with behavioral studies of the primates it ships to various laboratories.
But monkey sales are the backbone of Alpha Genesis's business, which caters to the federal government, pharmaceutical companies and universities. Its website says their monkeys "are immediately available to our clients for a quick study start."
A curious scientist, and a career with primates
Westergaard's fascination with monkeys began when he was a psychology major at San Diego State University in the early 1980s. A professor asked him to help design the toys and structure for a small monkey enclosure.
As a graduate student, he created an experiment in which capuchin monkeys developed simple tools from objects like bamboo poles that they dipped into maple-flavored corn syrup. Westergaard and his partner gave their test subjects human names.
One study participant, Patty, traveled with him to South Carolina. Westergaard said she died a few years ago. She was 40.
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He received his doctoral degree from the University of Washington before joining NIH in 1991. There, he studied monkey "handedness" -- exploring whether they prefer the right hand over the left. Researchers chronicled which hand the monkeys chose to throw objects or eat, calling the exploration a "powerful research tool that can lead to a more complete understanding" of how hand preference develops.
His research teams studied the reproductive performance of monkeys in cages against outdoor corrals. Rhesus macaques, the teams concluded, breed more readily outside, "probably as a result of increased individual space and relaxation of intense social stressors."
Soon after his post-doctoral fellowship, he joined the company that became Alpha Genesis, working his way to president and CEO in 2003. He eventually bought out the previous owners.
Westergaard, 64, has proven adept at winning government contracts. A significant portion of the federally approved funds -- more than $58 million -- have been earmarked to breed monkeys for researchers studying how to minimize usage of immune system-suppressing drugs for organ transplant recipients.
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Westergaard estimated an NIH grant currently bringing in $6 million per year to breed for the transplant study represented between a third or fourth of the company's annual revenue.
His stewardship over the company has coincided with a focus on growing the American primate development industry, which scientists say is vital to research and medical testing. Monkeys have similarities to humans' size, immune system, physiology and anatomy.
Federal need for primate research has soared in recent years, a response to the growing threat of bioterrorism, the COVID-19 pandemic and China banning monkey exports, which the U.S. relied on for its research. Overall federal spending on primate research and breeding is difficult to track due to funding complexities and a lacking centralized database, a 2023 National Academy of Sciences report found.
NIH saw "high demand and limited availability" for primate test subjects, which totaled around 35,000 in recent years, according to a survey. Private breeders complained in their responses that they did not have enough monkeys in stock and were having to promise future progeny.
Scientists hustled to develop and test vaccines to protect against COVID-19, and they needed primates to conduct the experiments.
"It created this sort of perfect storm of a problem of the demand increasing in this country, but the supply just really going to zero," Westergaard said, referring to the Chinese ban and the vaccine race.
He wants to expand capacity at Alpha Genesis to meet the growing demand. And primate prices are soaring, with a rhesus monkey going for $5,000 to $20,000, according to Westergaard. His facility also houses more expensive monkeys, such as brown capuchins and crab-eating macaques.
Probing research on pressing public health issues
Beyond the company's focus on breeding, Alpha Genesis monkeys have been used to answer pressing public health questions. Its monkeys have been subjects of studies that range from observing behaviors, separating mothers from their young and injecting animals with viruses.
Westergaard said confidentiality agreements prohibit him from discussing the studies or allowing The Post and Courier to tour the sprawling, gated compound -- surrounded by fencing and partially by trees -- along a rural road in Yemassee, Beaufort County. A smaller Alpha Genesis campus sits a few miles away in Hampton County. Between the two cuts Interstate 95.
Along the St. Helena Sound sits Morgan Island, home to a thousands-strong rhesus colony the company manages for the federal government. Known to locals as "Monkey Island," the undeveloped island is owned by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources with the federal National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases being responsible for the colony.
Yemassee, home to the company's main operations, is a town of about 1,000 residents named after a confederation of Native American tribes. A stop on the Amtrak train route to Savannah, its nearby attractions include Harold's Country Club, a former filling station-turned-restaurant, and a plantation designed by famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
At its three locations, Alpha Genesis's inner workings are largely hidden from passersby -- even if its primates have proven pivotal in public health research. Scientific papers offer details of some aspects of the company's research over the past two decades.
A federally supported study was conducted inside Alpha Genesis and relied for support on the company's veterinary staff. Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis wanted to understand how a night of heavy drinking affects fetal brain cells, a question already researched in rodent studies. They used Alpha Genesis monkeys for the next level of research.
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Pregnant monkeys in their third trimester were injected with enough alcohol to simulate binge drinking. Their fetuses were delivered through a caesarian section and immediately euthanized, with the fetal brains transported from Yemassee to Washington University. There, scientists sliced and analyzed them for neuron cell death.
The researchers noted that they tried to limit the total number of monkeys used in the testing to nine because of the scarcity of the animals.
In another recently published study, Alpha Genesis monkeys were studied at the company test site by researchers studying a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. The respiratory illness strikes "vulnerable populations," and research has shown that vaccinations early in life offer protection, the study says. The disease kills an estimated 10,000 older U.S. adults each year and causes another 160,000 hospitalizations.
A dozen primates aged 6 to 7 years old were used in the experiment. The monkeys were injected with an experimental vaccine, and some monkeys were exposed to the RSV virus. The vaccine's effectiveness was studied over several months.
Westergaard was especially proud of his company's involvement in the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines. He said in a 2020 media release that his company had 50 years of vaccine experience and "was lending its considerable resources to combat this latest viral menace."
A study involving Biomere Inc. of Worcester, Mass., relied on Alpha Genesis monkeys, which were injected with "one, two or three doses" of experimental vaccines and observed after each shot, according to published research. Some monkeys were infected with the coronavirus in a high-security laboratory and studied for vaccine effectiveness, respiratory distress and weight loss. Afterward, the primates were killed through "an intravenous overdose of sodium phenobarbital," researchers reported. A Biomere spokesman declined to comment.
Scientists who are proponents of research on monkeys credit the animals' participation with contributing to major medical advancements like the polio and COVID-19 vaccines, as well as HIV drug treatment.
"There's been a long history, especially in vaccine research, of non-human primates playing a very important role, and it's sort of a gateway to see if the vaccine is feasible for working humans," said Deborah Fuller, director of the Washington National Primate Research Center.
Is the progress worth the pain?
Opponents question whether the inflicted pain and suffering is worth the medical advancements.
Susan Howell, a primatologist, biological anthropologist and University of Colorado visiting lecturer, worked at Alpha Genesis in the mid 2000s. She managed a breeding colony there. Throughout her time working in primate research, she witnessed treatment that didn't sit right with her.
Veterinarians would pump monkeys with ketamine to knock them out in order to give them physical exams, she said. Vets then would pile monkeys onto a truck and drive them to an area within the facility where they would perform the exams, she added. That was enough for her to feel uncomfortable, though her full perspective change came years later.
Howell understands how primates have contributed to scientific developments. She just questions the cost to the animals.
"I don't think the point is they're not making strides. The point is whether humans deserve those strides over the health and well-being of the animal," she said. "That's the question."
Primate research, however, remains embedded in U.S. public health systems. Federal regulation requires researchers to show new drugs are safe to try in humans, typically by testing on animals -- commonly monkeys. The Federal Drug Administration approves drugs that are effective and not toxic for human trials.
Animal advocates push for alternatives, which scientists are trying to develop. Federal legislation signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 allows for alternatives to animal testing for new drugs. The FDA supports these options when they are available, but according to the agency and three leading primate research scientists who spoke to the newspaper, those possibilities are limited.
Westergaard believes the benefits of research outweigh the costs to the monkeys he loves.
"Part of my justification in my own mind is that I know that the people that employ here and myself, we really do care about the monkeys," he said. "And if this type of work is going to be done, I would rather that we do it than really anyone else."
As the last few weeks have shown, even with layers of safety built into routine tasks and scientific experiments, intense scrutiny into the company's work and the science it supports is just one escape away.