Because of you and the work of the Physicians Committee, monkeys have been spared pain and suffering! Last week, we told you that Wake Forest University in North Carolina planned to allow pediatricians in training and others to perform invasive medical procedures on young vervet monkeys—some weighing only two pounds—in a course scheduled for Aug. 4-7. But we just learned the course was shut down! The registration webpage now reads:

Among the most invasive planned procedures was intubation, in which trainees force a plastic tube through the monkeys’ mouths and into their windpipes. That can cause bleeding, scarring, injury to the vocal cords, and even death. They also planned to insert thin tubes into the animals’ urethras, which can cause painful bladder infections and injuries. Now, that won’t happen!

But there is still work to do! These monkeys are part of a colony funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has given Wake Forest more than $12.5 million since 2012—including $1 million this year—simply to keep the colony going. But that money from the NIH was likely not supposed to be used for this kind of training. Plus, Wake Forest’s vervet experiments in areas like Alzheimer’s, aging, obesity, and diabetes have failed to benefit patients.

We wrote to leaders at both the NIH and Wake Forest. We filed an animal cruelty complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General and Forsyth County Sheriff. We enlisted a member of Congress to write to the NIH. And Physicians Committee supporters sent more than 14,000 emails to the university and the NIH!

Now we need you to send another email! Please urge the NIH to cancel funding for Wake Forest’s vervet colony.

Thank you for making this victory happen and for your continued help!