Lawsuit: Miami Monkey Supplier Canned Hindu Man Over Compassion for Animals

In January, Sudeep Garg packed up his life in India and moved with his family to South Florida to start a new job. He was slated to begin as the procurement director for Miami's most controversial monkey importer, tasked with sourcing and purchasing inventory.

Just nine days into the gig, Garg was fired over his religious views on ethical animal treatment, a new lawsuit alleges.

In the lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade County court, Garg claims Worldwide Primates, a South Florida company that imports monkeys for biomedical research, wrongfully fired him based on his Hindu religion. He alleges that Worldwide Primates was aware of his faith during his hiring, including his religious opposition to animal slaughter, but the company later dug up his old social media posts about such beliefs and kicked him to the curb.

Garg's attorney, Chad Levy, tells New Times he's intent on proving in court that Garg was the victim of illegal discrimination under the Florida Civil Rights Act.

"Mr. Garg is extremely upset that, after uprooting his family from India to come to Miami for this job, he was terminated due to his beliefs on animal rights. Laws are in place to ensure that an employee can practice his religious beliefs without fear of termination," Levy says.

Compassionate treatment of animals is a hallmark of Hinduism and its tenet of ahimsa, which calls for pacifism and nonviolence toward humans and animals alike. An estimated 30 to 40 percent of Hindu residents in India are vegetarians.

One ancient Hindu text, Bhagavata, preaches, "Deer, camel, donkey, monkey, rats, creeping animals, birds, and flies – one should consider them like one's own children, and not differentiate between one's children and these creatures."

According to the lawsuit, Garg began his job on January 23 and was fired on February 3.

"The unlawful discriminatory actions by the defendant and its agents and employees...were and are intentional, willful, malicious and with gross disregard for the plaintiff's rights," the lawsuit reads.

In a statement provided to New Times, Worldwide Primates denied the discrimination claims.

"As a company whose principals are of the Jewish faith and who have experienced discrimination firsthand, we find it disheartening that discrimination is being falsely alleged for the purposes of this lawsuit," Worldwide Primates says. "Our company has never engaged in — and never would engage in — discrimination based on religious beliefs or practices."

"Since this matter involves pending litigation, we cannot comment further at this time," the statement reads.

The Miami-based Worldwide Primates has drawn the ire of animal-rights activists for decades.

The company describes itself as a leading supplier of primates for research by government agencies, universities, and pharmaceutical companies. Its slogan reads, "Premium Quality Primates Supporting Premium Quality Research."

In the early '90s, the company's founder and owner, Matthew Block, was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison and fined $30,000 for his role in the "Bangkok Six" orangutan smuggling case. As chronicled in a 1993 Los Angeles Times story, in February 1990, six baby orangutans were reportedly stuffed in a crate at the Bangkok airport en route to Moscow. They were reportedly packed in so tightly that four died.

Prosecutors claimed the monkeys were on their way to a Moscow animal-trading agency under an illegal deal Block had forged with KGB-tied Russians. A defense attorney at the time claimed the animals were slated to be used for AIDS research.

In the years since, animal rights groups have accused Worldwide Primates of subjecting monkeys to "agonizing and inhumane" medical tests. Activists have mounted aggressive campaigns against the facility, with some groups landing themselves in prison over illegal threats and protests in Miami, a hotbed of illegal animal trafficking and exotic animal trade.

In 2020, the company was awarded more than a million dollars to provide hundreds of monkeys to the National Institutes of Health in an "emergency acquisition" amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the nonprofit Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.