Animal activists are messing with OHSU’s Primate Center again. This time they’ve fraudulently identified themselves as OHSU officials and sent out a press release announcing the center’s imminent closure. Earlier tonight the University’s spokesman sent this missive to reporters:

Portland media members,

Jim Newman from OHSU’s press office here.
This afternoon we became aware of a press release sent out by an animal rights activist in the Midwest claiming that OHSU’s primate center may soon close.
I want to inform you that this claim is highly inaccurate. 
OHSU’s primate center, along with the nations’s six other federally-funded primate centers, remains open. As you may recall, the Oregon center is in the midst of developing a very promising AIDS vaccine candidate. The center recently made a series of discoveries that have advanced stem cell therapies. In addition, a gene therapy method based on OHSU’s primate center work may soon be available in the UK to prevent several diseases in infants  
The person who sent out the inaccurate release refers to Harvard’s decision this week to wind down operations at it’s Boston-area primate lab in two years. This was a financial decision made by Harvard University and a decision that only impacts that particular university. It has no impact on OHSU or any of the other six centers across the country.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  
Jim Newman

The closure of the Harvard primate facility apparently sent shock waves through the research community. This story contains a surprising quote from the director of the Oregon primate facility,

Outside researchers were taken by surprise, the Globe reports. Nancy Haigwood, director of the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Beaverton, called the decision “very, very, disturbing, disappointing, disheartening, shocking.” She said the decision will slow research and harm the careers of the center’s senior researchers.

OHSU’s Primate Center and scientists have been targeted for years by Oregon’s plentiful supply of professional animal and eco terrorists. Bankers have been hounded at home for their employers’ peripheral connection to a facility that uses animals to find cures for human diseases. And animal activists have taken undercover cameras to try and catch OHSU Primate Center staff mistreating animals. OHSU scientists have had their homes surrounded by these thugs who say they love fuzzy animals but terrorize humans. 

And the Monkey Wrenchers have struck again.