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More escaped monkeys captured and given Fruit Loops as lawmaker slams lab’s “painful and deadly experiments”
Two more monkeys that escaped last week from a South Carolina research facility were recaptured Tuesday, according to the facility’s CEO, bringing the total number of primates caught and returned to 32 since the incident. Eleven monkeys are still on the loose.
Greg Westergaard, the chief executive officer of the facility Alpha Genesis, in Yemassee, South Carolina, told CBS News that both of the newly-trapped monkeys were healthy and enjoying a meal of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Fruit Loops were also “planned for dessert,” Westergaard said.
He added none of the monkeys, rhesus macaque primates used for biomedical study, showed signs of “ill effects from their adventure” and all continued “to do well.”
But Westergaard’s company has come under scrutiny from a federal lawmaker who criticized the lab for negligence and alleged the laboratory has performed harmful experiments on monkeys for years. Rep. Nancy Mace, whose South Carolina jurisdiction includes Yemassee, penned a letter to animal welfare officials at the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, raising concerns about operations at the research facility in light of the monkeys’ escape.
“We are writing with urgent concerns regarding federal oversight of Alpha Genesis, a company which manages a nonhuman primate breeding and experimentation laboratory located in my Congressional district,” Mace wrote in the letter. She said the laboratory received $19 million in federal funding just this year “to breed, confine and experiment on primates at its facilities in South Carolina.”
Mace said that records show the primates are subjected to “painful and deadly experiments.”
“While in the care of Alpha Genesis, monkeys have frozen to death, died of dehydration, and been killed by other distressed primates,” Mace wrote in the letter, while requesting a briefing on the situation.
Mace pointed out that monkeys have escaped before from Alpha Genesis, and said federal inspectors had cited the company for violating the Animal Welfare Act as recently as September 2022. CBS News has asked Alpha Genesis to respond to Mace’s allegations.
An investigation by CBS affiliate WTOC found that in 2022, Alpha Genesis received eight violations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including a housing facilities violation and a veterinary violation.
The report found that the first eight months of 2022, six monkeys were placed in wrong enclosures – one animal was found dead from “trauma caused by the resident animals in the enclosure,” and four animals required subsequent veterinary care
On Wednesday, 43 monkeys being held at the research facility in Yemassee, South Carolina broke loose from their enclosure after a caretaker accidentally failed to secure the gate, Westergaard told CBS News. Of 50 primates inside, only seven stayed behind as the rest of the group proceeded to roam free just outside of the facility property.
Westergaard likened the state of affairs to “a playground situation” and said at the time the animals were “just being goofy monkeys jumping back and forth playing with each other.” Attempts to bait the creatures initially failed, and local police warned residents in the area to secure the doors and windows of their homes to prevent any of the escaped primates from entering.
With 11 of the monkeys still on the loose, Westergaard said Tuesday that recovery crews felt they had developed some solid leads to find the runaways.
“Late this afternoon we spotted a few more monkeys close to the traps, and heard others cooing in the forest,” he told CBS News. “We’ll be back at it before dawn tomorrow and will continue for as long as it takes. We appreciate the continued support from the community, and from the public at large as well.”
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Should you open a home equity loan with inflation rising again?
After a relatively steady path downward for most of the year, inflation rose again in October, according to a Thursday reading from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Now at 2.6%, the rate increased by two-tenths of a percentage point, up from September’s 2.4%.
Perhaps more importantly, that came after the Federal Reserve issued a 50 basis point cut to the federal funds rate in September and before another one was issued in November. This means that inflation may be a bit stickier than initially expected – or this could be a temporary blip on the Fed’s path toward its 2% target goal. Only time will tell.
Against this backdrop, borrowers considering a home equity loan may be hesitant to act. After all, a steady increase in inflation could cause interest rates to rise again, making this unique product more expensive than it currently is. Understanding this dynamic, it’s helpful to understand if it’s worth opening a home equity loan with inflation rising again. Below, we’ll explain why it may still be.
Lock in a low home equity loan rate before it can rise here today.
Should you open a home equity loan with inflation rising again?
Not sure if now is still a good time to open a home equity loan. Here are three reasons why it may be worth pursuing even after the recent uptick in inflation:
Rate cuts are still expected
While many borrowers may have become accustomed to interest rate hikes alongside a rise in inflation, that may not be the case this time around. Right now, interest rate cuts are still expected for the Fed’s final 2024 meeting in December. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool pegs it at a 75% chance currently. That would bring the federal funds rate down from a range of 4.50% to 4.75% currently to 4.25% to 4.50%.
That’s not a major reduction, but it will still be better than a rise – and it will make home equity loans even cheaper than they currently are. That said, additional economic data yet to be released could change that forecast. So if you’re considering a home equity loan now it makes sense to be proactive.
See what home equity loan rate you could qualify for online now.
Your financial needs can’t wait
If you’re one of the millions of Americans feeling the financial burden of inflation and higher interest rates, your financial needs may not be able to be put off any further, even with the prospect of lower interest rates ahead. And with the average home equity amount hovering near $330,000, there’s a good chance that you have plenty of equity to utilize now. Consider acting now, then, to improve your financial health.
Home equity loans are still cheaper than the alternatives
The average home equity loan interest rate is 8.41% as of November 14. That’s almost three times cheaper than credit cards (averaging around 23% currently) and about five points cheaper than personal loans (averaging around 13%). Compared to the alternatives, then, home equity loans are still significantly cheaper.
That noted, part of the reason why these products are less expensive has to do with the way they’re borrowed, specifically with the home in question serving as collateral. That’s why it’s critical that borrowers be able to repay all that they’ve withdrawn or they could risk losing their home to the lender in the process.
The bottom line
A rise in the inflation rate isn’t a positive development for borrowers but that doesn’t mean that your options are now limited, either. Home equity loans, in particular, can still be valuable for a variety of reasons. Waiting to act, however, could be problematic if the latest inflation report proves to be a sign of additional economic issues on the horizon. Understanding this potential, prospective borrowers would be well served by exploring their home equity loan options now, while rates are still relatively stable.
Start shopping for home equity loans online today.
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