Fauci-Funded Tulane Primate Lab at Center of Mississippi Crash, Three Monkeys Still Missing
A truck hauling Rhesus monkeys used for medical research crashed Tuesday morning on Interstate 59 in Jasper County, Mississippi, triggering public health concerns after early reports claimed the animals were infected with Hepatitis C, herpes, and COVID-19.
Authorities confirmed that many of the monkeys were killed on the scene by law enforcement following warnings that they posed a potential threat to humans. As of Wednesday morning, three monkeys remained missing. The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department later clarified that Tulane University, which owned the animals, said they were not infectious.
“The driver of the truck told local law enforcement that the monkeys were dangerous and required personal protective equipment to handle,” the department stated in a Facebook post. “We acted on the information provided by the transporter to protect public safety.”
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Tulane University released a statement emphasizing that the monkeys “belong to another entity and are not infectious.” The university added that it was cooperating with local authorities and sending animal care specialists to assist in recovery efforts. The facility, recently renamed the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center, rebranded earlier this month from its previous name — the Tulane National Primate Research Center — amid rising backlash over animal testing practices.
The crash has reignited debate over federally funded animal research. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene condemned the practice, calling for an end to taxpayer-funded primate testing. The animal rights watchdog group White Coat Waste (WCW) also renewed criticism of Tulane’s primate programs, noting that the facility has received millions in federal grants for controversial experiments — including funding once overseen by Dr. Anthony Fauci’s division at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
🙊 It’s starting to look like a movie — in the U.S., a lab monkey infected with dangerous viruses escaped after a crash
In Pennsylvania, a truck carrying test macaques with hepatitis C, herpes, and Covid-19 overturned.
Five monkeys were found soon after, but one is still on… pic.twitter.com/HeJyfVM6fW
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 29, 2025
According to WCW, Tulane has received at least $21 million to maintain a colony of monkeys used in AIDS studies, plus $10 million in NIAID grants for COVID-19 vaccine research. The center’s most recent federal report from 2023 listed 5,883 confined primates.
Tulane’s primate facility has faced safety and ethics controversies before. In 2014, two rhesus macaques contracted melioidosis, a rare bacterial disease, due to lapses in biosafety protocols. Federal investigators later found that staff had entered restricted labs without proper protective equipment, potentially spreading contamination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suspended multiple research projects at the time until compliance was restored.
Following the Mississippi crash, Justin Goodman, senior vice president of White Coat Waste, told The Gateway Pundit:
“The Tulane primate center has a sordid history of wasteful Fauci-funded monkey business, secretive spending, and dangerous lab accidents. The NIH shouldn’t be forcing taxpayers to subsidize this primate prison. We’re urging Secretary Kennedy to follow the lead of the first Trump administration and shut down government primate labs and retire the survivors to sanctuary.”
Monkeys infected with Covid and other infectious diseases like Hep C and Herpes.
How incredibly sad and wrong.
I’ve never met a taxpayer that wants their hard earned dollars paying for animal abuse nor who supports it.
This needs to end! https://t.co/s6IoBCXRTc
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 29, 2025
Goodman was referring to President Trump’s previous directive that led the Food and Drug Administration to end its nicotine experiments on squirrel monkeys in 2018. The animals were subsequently relocated to a Florida sanctuary, and the FDA later closed its largest primate testing facility in Arkansas.
Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Veterans Affairs also began phasing out primate testing — a move that former VA Secretary Doug Collins said was ahead of schedule.
Funded with millions of our tax dollars by Dr Fauci & @NIH
CC @SecKennedy https://t.co/V68uiUvA8K pic.twitter.com/rMo1cPDJN6
— Justin Goodman (@JustinRGoodman) October 29, 2025
The Mississippi incident has now intensified calls for oversight and reform of the nation’s animal research programs, as activists and lawmakers alike question why taxpayer money continues to fund dangerous and ethically questionable experiments.
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