Update (18 June 2025): Criminal Investigation Opened
In a historic development, police in India have opened a criminal investigation into Palamur Biosciences for apparently violating animal welfare laws, including by causing severe injuries to dogs and poisoning piglets, and for illegally capturing monkeys from the wild. This is the first-ever criminal investigation of an animal experimentation laboratory in that country and sends a strong signal that the days of experimenters mistreating animals with impunity are over.
Original post (10 June 2025):
Behind the closed doors of Telangana-based Palamur Biosciences Pvt Ltd – a contract laboratory that tests drugs, pesticides, and medical devices on animals, often for foreign clients – lies shocking cruelty. PETA’s exposé of this major contract laboratory, self-proclaimed as “one of the largest preclinical service providers” in India, is the country’s first-of-its-kind. Thanks to whistleblowers, PETA India takes you behind the secretive walls of the contract research industry and inside a laboratory where bloodied beagles lie on the floor, minipigs are poisoned, and rhesus macaques are killed.
In October 2024, PETA India filed official complaints with authorities about Palamur Biosciences’ likely unauthorised testing on rhesus macaques. But what came next was even more shocking: whistleblowers stepped forward, sharing gut-wrenching testimony, images, and footage from inside the laboratory. The animal suffering they revealed is not only cruel, it appears to be criminal.
Too Many Dogs, Too Little Space – and No Escape
The company also operates a beagle breeding facility, and whistleblowers say around 1500 dogs were crammed into overcrowded cages, with several forced to live in spaces meant for just two. Reportedly trapped with little space to move, no enrichment, and no socialisation, the dogs became aggressive and competed for food, often biting one another out of frustration. The result? Bloodied and torn ears and other wounds, and no pain relief.
“Useless” Means Dead
A whistleblower reveals that at Palamur, a dog with a treatable condition like cherry eye is seen not as a patient, but as a burden. A beagle with a fungal infection? Apparently killed, rather than treated. One whistleblower told PETA India that over 100 dogs were killed in a single incident simply because they were no longer considered “useful.”
Monkeys Stolen from the Wild and Silenced Forever
Palamur appears to have obtained wild rhesus macaques from Rajasthan, including through a dubious dealer. These sentient monkeys were tested for pathogens, and some were reportedly suspected to carry the zoonotic virus monkeypox, which can be transmitted to humans. Instead of alerting authorities, the laboratory allegedly killed the monkeys in secret to hide the dangerous risk to public health. Moreover, monkeys who were transported alongside those thought to be harbouring monkeypox – and who initially tested negative – were retested only one week after arriving at Palamur, despite the virus’s potentially longer incubation period. These monkeys were then used in experiments – importantly, even an undetected monkeypox infection could have compromised the results.
Piglets Born to Die
A whistleblower said the company is not licensed to breed minipigs, so when a Göttingen minipig unexpectedly gave birth, all of her babies were reportedly killed. These intelligent animals are apparently confined to barren cages. On paper, they’re promised enrichment. In reality, a whistleblower states they are removed from cages only for experiments, for show for visitors and destroyed at convenience.
Suffering by Design: What Testing Looks Like Here
- Chemicals injected under the skin, reportedly causing abscesses and infections so severe that the dogs couldn’t even move in some cases.
- Drugs forced down their throats, apparently leading to abscesses, weight loss, and agonising deaths.
- Bloody wounds, untreated pain, and no compassion. One whistleblower said plainly: “It’s like hell.”
Abuse Isn’t Accidental. It’s Routine.
Staff reportedly kick dogs, negligently close cage doors on their limbs, and handle them so roughly that bones are broken. Cameras show beagles whimpering in pain, as if pleading for any gentleness. When no one is watching, cruelty thrives. One worker confessed: “If there are no customers or higher-ups around, we don’t bother following the methods.” One chilling quote sums it up: “Everything is corrupted.”
The Final Moments: Terrified, Awake, and Alone
When the dogs are killed, the company reportedly uses a drug called thiopentone, but doesn’t sedate them first. Piglets were apparently given an intracardiac injection to kill them. Their last experience is pain or fear, not comfort.
What They Hoped You’d Never See
PETA India reviewed files of damning photos and videos submitted by insiders at Palamur. They show:
- A dog with a neck abscess, untreated and swollen
- Beagles with crudely stitched-up wounds from cage fights
- Pigs with bloody mouths from a dosing bar used to keep the mouth open
- A dog in a pool of blood
- A piglet born at the laboratory, only to be killed before taking her first steps
PETA India Submits Formal Complaint
This is not an isolated case. It is a window into a system in which animals are abused and discarded in laboratories worldwide. Palamur Biosciences must be held accountable.
PETA India has submitted formal complaints to government authorities and is calling for:
- Permanent shut down of all animal testing projects at Palamur Biosciences, and immediate closure of its breeding centre
- Immediate seizure and rehabilitation of any animals in the custody of Palamur Biosciences
- Prosecution of those responsible
- Stronger enforcement of animal protection laws
- A shift to cutting-edge, animal-free research methods
Help Animals in Laboratories
This PETA India investigation reveals the reality of life for animals in laboratories. PETA entities have repeatedly exposed the horrors animals endure as they’re treated like test tubes – even here in the UK.
You can help end similar abuse in the UK by urging the government to end all experiments on animals now:
