In Historic First, FIR Registered Against Animal Experimentation Laboratory—Palamur Biosciences—Following PETA India Complaint

In response to shocking evidence of animal abuse—including causing severe injuries to dogs and the poisoning of piglets so roughly they bleed—PETA India has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Telangana-based Palamur Biosciences Pvt Ltd. The move follows PETA India’s whistleblower-led exposé that brought the facility’s apparently criminal actions to light. This is the first time an FIR has been registered against an animal experimentation laboratory in India.

The FIR was registered by Boothpur Police Station, Mahabubnagar, under Section 173(1) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 for apparent violation of Sections 34, 269, 289, 337 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 for killing animals in the company’s custody and for maiming the animals, causing irreversible damage to the animals to the extent of rendering the animals useless, and for unlawfully killing animals against protocols notified by the Animal Welfare Board of India on 25.11.2013. The apparent violations also include negligent conduct with respect to the animal, causing probable danger to human life due to a failure of adequate processes against animal diseases that can infect humans.

Sections 9, 39, and 51 of the Wild Life Protection Act (WPA), 1972, were invoked as rhesus macaques were protected under the erstwhile Schedule II Part I of the WPA before the Wild Life Protection Amendment Act, 2022 came into force (i.e. before 1 April 2023). The apparent capturing of rhesus macaques from the wild in 2021 – 2022 by the company amounts to “hunting,” which includes “capturing,” and is a punishable offence under the WPA.

Following the exposé, the central government body Committee for the Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA) constituted an emergency committee to inspect the facility. However, the inspection report is still awaited.

PETA India’s exposé of this major contract laboratory is the first of its kind in the country to rip open the veil of secrecy surrounding facilities where dogs, rhesus macaques, and other animals endure painful procedures, languish for years, and where scientific credibility goes to die and now the FIR registered by Boothpur Police Station, Mahabubnagar, against an animal experimentation facility is also a historic first. PETA India thanks the Boothpur Police and especially Station House Officer Sri Chandra Shekhar for showing that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated, even behind closed laboratory doors, and urge government regulators to end the torment of animals imprisoned at Palamur Biosciences.

According to the whistleblowers who contacted PETA India, this laboratory which poisons beagles and other animals as a matter of course, has reportedly subjected animals to overcrowded cages or in other cases social isolation, environments that caused animals injuries and infections, and an often painful death when the animals are deemed no longer of use. Among the reported abuses, whistleblowers say:

• Palamur kept more beagles than the facility could properly house—some 1,500 dogs in a space designed for a maximum of about 800, forcing three to four dogs into cages meant for just two. The overcrowding, coupled with a lack of socialization and competition for food, led to extreme frustration and frequent fights, often causing serious injuries, especially to the dogs’ ears. Despite these wounds, the company failed to provide basic care, neglecting both proper wound cleaning and pain management.
• Animal care staff at Palamur were seen handling dogs roughly, with some workers kicking the animals or carelessly closing cage doors on their legs. A whistleblower claimed dogs sustained fractures from rough handling.
• In some studies conducted by Palamur, dogs were injected with test compounds under the skin (subcutaneously). These injections—either due to the compounds themselves or impurities in their formulation—sometimes caused infections at the injection sites. These infections could spread, eating through the skin and damaging the underlying tissue, leaving the dogs with open, painful wounds. Regarding this, a whistleblower said, “Depending on the location of the abscess, there can be further health issues suffered by the dogs. For example, if the abscess is in the shoulder, that can inhibit the dog’s ability to move. They can be in severe pain; they will lose their appetite, lose weight.” Meanwhile, the other whistleblower stated the animals would suffer “like hell”.
• In other studies, dogs became very sick, suffering ulcers in their mouths or intestines. Photographs and video footage show dogs lying in pools of blood.
• The company kills dogs using thiopentone but fails to sedate them beforehand—a basic step that could reduce their fear and distress in their final moments.
• Palamur purchased Göttingen minipigs from a company in Denmark, but did not have a license to breed them. At one point, a minipig became pregnant, and the head veterinarian ordered the killing of the eight to ten piglets born. The piglets were painfully killed via intracardiac injection.
• Despite a policy requiring playtime for pigs, Palamur routinely fails to provide this. Pigs would only be given access to enrichment when customers were visiting; otherwise, they remained confined to their cages and were only removed for experimental procedures.
• Palamur obtained wild rhesus macaques from a supplier in Rajasthan. Some monkeys who had been captured tested positive for zoonotic pathogens, likely monkeypox. Despite the potential public health risk to company employees and the community at large, the company kept the matter quiet and simply killed the monkeys while risking infection to others who were used for experiments.

PETA India has submitted complaints to the Committee for the Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA), the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and the National GLP Compliance Monitoring Authority (NGCMA). PETA India is urging immediate termination of the company’s registration to use animals in testing, prosecution under applicable rules and rehabilitation of surviving animals.