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File photo of marmoset at the Newark Museum's mini zoo.

(JOHN O'BOYLE/THE STAR-LEDGER)

PRINCETON — An animal rights group filed complaints against Prince-ton University today alleging that lab employees tormented at least one young monkey by placing it in a plastic exercise ball and rolling it down the halls "for their own amusement."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed the complaints with the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services after obtaining a June 22 email sent by university psychology professor Asif Ghazanfar to his laboratory staff and graduate students expressing concern over the incident.

PETA received the internal memo from “an anonymous whistleblower,” said Alka Chandna, senior laboratory oversight specialist for the animal rights group.

“I was very disappointed to learn that our marmosets are not being treated with the respect that they deserve,” Ghazanfar said in the email. “Recently, one or more (I didn’t get the details) was/were placed in a ferret exercise ball solely for the entertainment of some of our lab members. This could only have been stressful for the marmoset. None of those lab members who participated chose to exercise any common sense, sense of decency or leadership.”

A marmoset, a species of monkey, can typically be found living in forests with social groups of up to three generations of family members. At Princeton University, the animals are confined to cages and used to gather information on how they communicate vocally, which PETA says can be studied in the wild instead.

“We take any and all allegations of mistreatment seriously and are committed to the care and welfare of animals. In cases where concerns are raised, we address all concerns swiftly and thoroughly,” university spokesman Martin Mbugua wrote in an email to The Times. “We are aware of this allegation and we are looking into it.”

He added that the lab has passed two unannounced, two-day inspections by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service since November 2011.

Inspection service spokeswoman Tanya Espinosa confirmed that her agency received the complaint today and will look into it.

In his message to laboratory personnel, Ghazanfar said he was speaking for himself only.

“This is how I feel personally; I am not relaying the official sentiment from the university,” Ghazanfar wrote. “I am very much pro-science and pro-animal welfare. Mistreating the marmosets is both anti-science and anti-welfare.”

Today, Chandna sent letters, obtained by The Times, to Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber and to Ghazanfar requesting that the monkeys be relocated immediately to a sanctuary accredited by the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, “where they can live outdoors in social groups in a semi-natural environment.”

“The marmosets — incredibly sensitive and fragile animals who are easily distressed by handling — subjected to this reckless behavior would surely have become frightened, distressed and felt discomfort, and they may also have sustained injuries,” Chandna wrote to Ghazanfar.

The group is also urging the USDA to fine the university, which allegedly violated the federal Animal Welfare Act, according to PETA.

“We are asking that you investigate the allegations above and swiftly move to ban students and staff who have mishandled these marmosets from continuing to work in any Princeton facilities with animals,” Chandna wrote to Ghazanfar.

According to Princeton University’s website, Ghazanfar’s lab “studies the neurobiology and behavior of monkey agents as way of understanding the evolution and function of the human brain and social behavior.”

“The marmosets are not in the lab for your amusement. They are not pets. We are forcing them into experimental contexts that they wouldn’t otherwise choose because that is the only way that we can address our scientific questions,” Ghazanfar wrote in the email. “To force them into contexts for which there is no scientific justification is reprehensible and, frankly, unethical.”

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