Hendry monkey farm reacts to PETA's undercover video

Holding the monkey upside down, the man with the blurred-out face sticks a gloved finger into the animal's bloody bottom, bouncing it up and down as he does.

This is just one of several gasp-inducing moments in a video released Monday by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a video that also shows monkeys at Primate Products in Hendry County cowering on feces-smeared concrete, being yanked off chain-link by their tails and trying to drink from a dried-up water spigot.

Filmed by a PETA worker who went undercover for eight months as a husbandry technician at the monkey farm, the video sparked a USDA investigation of the facility, which houses some 3,200 monkeys destined for biomedical research. Primate Products is already the subject of a county complaint for potential zoning violations.

MORE: USDA inspects monkey farm after undercover PETA video

"It's clear that the spotlight is now on this company, even more than it already has been," said Dan Paden, a manager in PETA's cruelty investigations department. "But at the end of the day, the only way really to prevent animals from suffering in facilities like that hellhole is to urge the federal government to earmark research funds for things besides penning monkeys up."

Primate Products president, veterinarian Jeff Rowell, has stepped into the swirl of news surrounding the video, releasing to The News-Press the USDA's report, which records eight findings of noncompliance with the Animal Welfare Act.

"I can't just sit on my hands," Rowell said. "I'm accountable to clients; I'm accountable to the county and I'm accountable to the public. And I take that seriously. If that means releasing the report, that's what we're going to do."

The USDA report sets a timeline to correct each problem and outlines future standards. But that's just one step in the process, Rowell said.

"We clearly expect to be fined down the road. That's a separate process through the investigative arm of the USDA (but) the biggest consequences is losing public trust," he said. "This is much harder to recover, but we are determined to try."

Some of what the video depicts appears damning because it was taken out of context, Rowell said.

In-depth: Monkey farming in Hendry: Boon or bust?

For example, scenes of damp, manure-strewn enclosures were filmed first thing in the morning. "They film at 7:30 in the morning, then they claim the animals are living in filthy conditions," Rowell said. "Well of course the cage looks its worst at 7:30 in the morning. Trust me; those cages are cleaned every day. It's all about the context."

He admits other scenes, though, clearly depict problems, such as the technician using a dry finger to push in the monkey's prolapsed rectum, commonly caused by the stress of captivity

"I was shocked by it too," Rowell said. "Now was he intentionally tormenting that animal? No. Did he have evil intentions? Absolutely not. Did he not know what he was doing? Absolutely. He thought he was doing the right thing, but that doesn't make it right. And that doesn't absolve him or the organization of responsibility for how that animal is treated."

As for the scenes of monkeys with open or sutured wounds mingling in cages with others, "There are a number of animals that are treated in their cages," Rowell said, "because separating from the group can be added stress ...With that said, there are opportunities to improve on our program — and we are determined to do just that."

PETA's Paden doubts Rowell's sincerity. "We see a culture of indifference among facility managers," he said. "Think about it — you have animals with exposed bones in their tails — their vertebrae — sticking out. You have animals who had exposed finger bones. Those animals were left in that condition for a week at a time ... Animals who were desperately thin, emaciated, with open wounds, being attacked, etcetera."

Paden says what the video shows is typical; the undercover investigator didn't cherry-pick extraordinarily bad situations.

"The video we published and the findings we described are representative of the daily plight of about 2,000 animals at that facility. (They're) representative scenes," he said. "This video accurately depicts the unrelenting fear and misery and deprivation and pain that those animals live in between the times when men are sticking needles in their spine to collect fluid, drawing blood from them to sell or tearing them off of cages and stuffing them into wooden transport crates."

Ultimately, PETA would like to see Primate Products shut down and its resident monkeys sent to shelters to live out their days. "And we would bend over backward to help USDA find placement for any animals PPI wants to get rid of," Paden said.

For its part, Hendry County issued a release that said simply that it was aware of the video and of the investigation.

"Hendry County has been working diligently on our investigation into the potential violation in the form of land use or activity inconsistent with the zoning," spokeswoman Electa Waddell wrote in a release. "The final USDA report into the ongoing investigation will be considered when making a determination into our investigation. Once all items requested have been received and all investigative findings have been reviewed, a final determination will be issued."