Plan for $400 million monkey-breeding facility in southwest Georgia draws protest

Some local residents and an animal-rights group are protesting plans for a monkey-breeding facility in southwest Georgia. Opponents are urging the Bainbridge City Council to block plans by a company called Safer Human Medicine. It wants to build a $396 million complex that would eventually hold up to 30,000 long-tailed macaques. The monkeys would be sold to universities and pharmaceutical companies for medical research. The company says the Bainbridge facility would provide a domestic source of monkeys to offset imports. But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and some residents say they fear the possibility of monkeys escaping as well as harm.