Rights group: More monkey deaths at UCD preventable
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http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/ucd/rights-group-more-monkey-deaths-at-ucd-preventable/
Rights group: More monkey deaths at UCD preventable
By Cory Golden, DavisEnterprise.com, Friday, March 29, 2013
The Ohio-based organization Stop Animal Exploitation NOW is accusing
the California National Primate Center at UC Davis of negligence in the
deaths of at least a dozen young monkeys in 2011.
SAEN filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture after
learning last week that the USDA had cited the center for deaths in 2009
and 2010. The USDA decided not to levy a fine against the center because
of improvements made there, according to the university.
In a letter to the USDA, Michael Budkie, SAEN’s executive director,
claims the unnecessary deaths continued. He points to center necropsy
reports listing the causes of death for eight young female macaques and
four young males as improper nutrition of lack of suckling.
In all, Budkie writes, some 130 animals died at the center with varying
degrees of dehydration and exhaustion from lack of nourishment. It is
possible that some did not receive adequate medical care or that they
should have been euthanized earlier to prevent undue suffering, he adds.
Other reports indicate that young monkeys suffered what appeared to be
traumatic abuse from adults.
“It is clear from UC Davis’ own veterinary records that infant animals
are still suffering from maternal neglect and that the care given older
primates has not improved — this negligence has led to multiple deaths,”
Budkie said in a news release. “The public record does not bear out
statements made by UC Davis or the USDA. Nothing has changed; primates
are still suffering and dying in violation of federal law.”
Dallas Hyde, professor of veterinary medicine at UCD and the center’s
director, said some of the safeguards put into place — like a second
daily health check and a committee that reviews the death of each animal
— were added during 2011. He said there are currently “about a
half-dozen” studies examining issues like dehydration, including the use
of food supplements and goat milk.
“We’re putting this under the microscope for our own programatic
reasons,” Hyde said.
Of the 300-acre center’s research animals, about 3,000 live outside in
24 half-acre corrals. With more than 500 births per year, the center is
one of the largest breeders of monkeys in the eight-location National
Primary Research Centers Program.
Hyde said it can be difficult for staff members to get a good look at
infant monkeys in the corral during health checks, so they have begun
providing fruit treats to lure mothers close enough that their offspring
can be better looked over and sometimes bottle-fed.
First-time mothers receive special scrutiny because they’re most likely
to neglect their offspring or have trouble with lactation. Neglected
young are sometimes adopted by other females who aren’t lactating. A
dead infant showing signs of dehydration may have neglected for as
little as a day, Hyde said.
Mothers and young aren’t netted and brought inside the facility because
it would interrupt the social order of the colony, he said.
The mortality rate among the macaques at the center hovers around 20
percent, he said, compared to 40 percent in the wild.
“The San Diego Zoo isn’t doing any better. … Pandas in captivity have a
mortality rate of about 19 percent — and they have 24/7 care,” Hyde
said.
“It’s hard to do much better than 20 percent (among macaques), but we
think that we can.”
The USDA last fined the Davis center in 2005, after an incident the year
before in which a faulty room heater killed six monkeys.
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