Oregon Health & Science University leaders on Thursday walked through a blunt, state-ordered analysis of the Oregon National Primate Research Center, and the takeaway was not especially comforting: there is no cheap, easy way out. The report sketches three possible futures for the Hillsboro facility — immediate closure, conversion to a sanctuary, or scaled-back operations — and concludes that a rapid shutdown could actually cost more than keeping the place running, even though the center is already operating at a deficit. At a special OHSU board meeting, researchers, union members and animal-rights activists squared off over jobs, animal welfare and whether primate research is still worth the price.
Report answers a legislative budget note
OHSU submitted the analysis at the end of December in response to a budget note attached to House Bill 5006 that directed the university to model the impact of a 25% cut in NIH funding and to draw up closure plans in case that money dried up. The study, prepared with Huron Consulting, lays out timelines, financial projections and options for what happens to the animals and how staff might transition, according to OHSU.
Study finds closure scenarios cost hundreds of millions
The Huron-authored analysis puts an immediate shutdown at roughly $241 million over eight years, a phased closure at about $118 million, and a conversion to a sanctuary at an estimated $220 million to $291 million. A scaled-down continuation of current operations, by comparison, is projected to cost about $50 million to $70 million over eight years, as reported by OPB. The report also warns that closing the primate center would wipe out more than $100 million a year in research funding. About 80% of ONPRC’s operating dollars are already tied up in animal care and administration, so many costs would stick around even if experiments stopped. OHSU’s figures show the center posted an operating loss of about $12.2 million in fiscal 2025, the analysis says.
Why closing would not erase costs
Those big price tags come down to a basic reality: highly specialized veterinary care, long-term management of a primate colony and a workforce trained to handle it all are expensive, and they do not vanish the day you turn out the lights. Rising personnel costs, along with relatively flat federal support, have pushed the center into the red. On top of that, the analysis warns that transfers, environmental remediation and relocation work could drag on for years, according to Willamette Week.
Public testimony and political pressure
The special board session brought out a full cast of supporters and critics. Backers of the primate center pointed to decades of medical advances tied to research there, while opponents called the work outdated, unethical and out of step with public values. Local reporters chronicled tense and emotional testimony as speakers traded barbs over science, suffering and paychecks. Animal-rights groups kept up their calls for closure, and PETA issued a statement blasting the new report. Lawmakers, meanwhile, pressed OHSU for clearer contingency plans and firmer commitments, according to coverage from KGW.
What happens to almost 4,800 primates and staff?
The analysis counts about 4,793 nonhuman primates and roughly 267 full-time staff at ONPRC, and warns that moving animals and reallocating programs could take more than five years, according to OHSU. The report also notes that the NIH has a legal interest in OHSU’s West Campus land. Any sale or major repurposing of the site would require federal negotiations, adding yet another layer of cost and complexity to any shutdown plan.
Regulatory and ethical backdrop
Critics point to a long history of complaints and oversight actions at the primate center. Advocacy organizations including the Physicians Committee and PETA have filed formal complaints and launched campaigns attacking specific experiments and animal-care practices, as detailed by the Physicians Committee and PETA. That regulatory pressure and sustained public scrutiny helped spur the Legislature’s budget note and now frame the stark set of options facing OHSU’s board.
The board says it will keep weighing the report’s findings alongside public testimony before deciding what comes next, and university leaders have signaled a commitment to both staff and animal welfare while they sort through the choices, according to regional reporting from OPB. For now, Portland’s primate center sits in an expensive limbo: closing it would mean massive up-front costs, but keeping it open leaves the university, lawmakers and advocates wrestling with scientific, financial and ethical questions that are not going away.
