Animal welfare watchdog issues complaint against CU medical campus
Media Coverage About SAEN Stop Animal Exploitation Now

ACTION ALERT:

Contact the Dr. Robert Gibbens
Director, Western Region, USDA
(970) 494-7478
[email protected]
[email protected]

SAMPLE MESSAGE:

Please LEVY a MAXIMUM FINE against University of Colorrado, Denver, for their blatant disregard of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) which injured cats, guinea pigs & a rabbit. Their behavior must NOT be tolerated & MUST be punished to the fullest extent of the law. 

 

Animal welfare watchdog issues complaint against CU medical campus
By Natalie Munio, DenverPost.com, May 11, 2016

A watchdog group has filed a complaint against the University of Colorado Denver/ Anschutz Medical Campus claiming the university "negligently abused a number of animals."

The group, Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), said in a news release that its complaint, filed Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Agriculture , alleges the university violated the Animal Welfare Act. The allegations are based on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents include correspondence between the university and the National Institute of Health's animal welfare office describing three incidents that happened between January 2015 to January 2016.

According to the documents, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the university received a report in 2015 of an incident involving three guinea pigs who suffered bone fractures, and were subsequently euthanized.

A year later, a similar report was made by the committee on an incident involving two rabbits, one of which was euthanized after escaping from its pen and fracturing a leg.

Also, a March 2015 report outlined an incident involving four cats "found to be depressed and hypersalivating" and with oral ulcerations found to be caused by ingesting a "quaternary ammonium cleaning agent."

In their complaint to the USDA, SAEN said that "fully trained and qualified personnel would not have allowed cats to gain access to potentially toxic chemicals."

"University of Colorado administration allowed animals to be unnecessarily injured due to negligence by facility staff," said Michael Budkie, executive director of SAEN in the release. "CU deserves a major federal fine for carelessly killing and injuring animals."

In each of the three reported incidents, the documents show that after consulting with the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare it was determined that no further action was required.

In a statement , the university said SAEN used "inaccurate information and misrepresents the conditions of the animal reserach facilities" at the university.

The university also said the documents show they independently reported the incidents to the National Institute of Health's Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, as well as to the USDA, and that no formal citations had been issued.

"The University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus scientists adhere to all federal and state laws, regulations, and guidelines established by the federal government, awarding agencies, and professional groups to protect research animals. All animal research is subject to multiple reviews internally and externally and is fully authorized and monitored by the federal government," according to the statement.

In the complaint to the USDA, SAER asked for "the most severe action allowable under the Animal Welfare Act" with the maximum fine — $10,000 per infraction, per animal — to begin immediately.

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