ACTION ALERT:
Contact:
Dr. Robert Gibbens
Director, Western Region, USDA
(970) 494-7478
[email protected]
[email protected]
SAMPLE MESSAGE:
Please levy the MAXIMUM FINE against Saint Louis University for their
blatant disregard of the Animal Welfare Act which caused the death of a
piglet. Their negligence MUST NOT be tolerated and MUST be punished to the
fullest extent of the law.
Watchdog group requests investigation
at SLU over dead piglet
By Ashley Jost, STLToday.com, June 20, 2017
ST. LOUIS • A national animal rights watchdog group announced Tuesday it
has filed an official complaint against St. Louis University after an
incident in the fall of 2016 that led to a dead piglet.
According to an inspection report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a
piglet died in September after a staff member connected a nutrition bag to
the piglet's jugular catheter instead of the IV fluid bag.
"The research facility acted promptly to address this incident by conducting
an investigation," reporting it to the proper agencies "and swiftly
implementing appropriate corrective actions," the USDA report said.
That includes retraining staff and hiring a new research assistant to
prevent that happening again.
St. Louis University issued a statement saying the school is "committed to
maintaining the highest standards for the care and use of animals in
research. SLU fully investigated the inadvertent death of a pig that
occurred during approved medical research last fall, self-reported the
incident, and took immediate actions — including enhanced training and
oversight — to prevent future incidents. These actions were acknowledged by
the USDA during a recent routine inspection."
In a letter to the USDA, the watchdog group Stop Animal Exploitation Now,
requests a full investigation into the incident at SLU, though the
organization misidentifies the institution toward the end of the letter.
"The level of carelessness and incompetence necessary to bungle a basic
procedure like this is nothing short of astonishing," SAEN co-founder
Michael Budkie said in a statement. "We agree with the USDA that St. Louis
University staff is clearly unqualified to perform even basic procedures."
The maximum penalty during such an investigation is $10,000 for the
infraction, per animal.
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