ACTION ALERT
Contact:
Dr. Robert D. Simari, Executive Vice Chancellor
University of Kansas Medical Center
[email protected]
SAMPLE MESSAGE:
Dear Dr. Simari, Exec Vice Chancellor, KU MED
Please permanently ban all staff connected to Protocol “2015-2248” from ever working with animals again. The negligence necessary to set a mouse on fire, cause another to die of "massive hemorrhage," while a third never recovered from surgery is unconscionable. This gross negligence MUST NOT be tolerated and should be punished.
Animal-rights group demands inquiry of
University of Kansas Medical Center after mouse set on fire
From Tim Carpente,
CJOnline.com, February 1, 2018
An Ohio animal rights organization proposed Thursday the withholding of
federal funding and dismissal of a research administrator at the University
of Kansas Medical Center in response to alleged abuse of research animals.
Stop Animal Exploitation Now, a nonprofit group based in Milford, Ohio,
submitted to federal officials documents alleging negligence by the KU
Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., in relation to an incident in which an
animal was set on fire and killed. SAEN called for an independent
investigation of abuse among animals in KUMC’s research program in Kansas
City, Kan.
Michael Budkie, executive director of SAEN, said the National Institutes of
Health should terminate federal aid to KU Medical Center. In addition, the
Medical Center should take action against Steffani Webb, the vice chancellor
for administration at the facility.
Natalie Lutz, spokeswoman at the KU Medical Center, said the Medical Center
remained committed to ethical and responsible performance of academic
research involving animals. The Medical Center is in regular contact with
the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other entities that monitor animal
research, she said.
“The University of Kansas Medical Center maintains a stringent oversight
process that includes notifying animal welfare governing bodies of specific
incidents regarding the use of animals in research,” Lutz said.
The Ohio animal-rights organization alleged “the campus has apparently
engaged in a massive cover up by hiding violations of federal law and animal
cruelty from federal regulators.”
SAEN alleged that from May 2015 to March 2017 the staff at KU Medical Center
reported 23 incidents of federal non-compliance to a campus committee on
animal care. Only four of these incidents were reported to federal
regulators, SAEN said.
“The unavoidable conclusion is that the research administration of the
University of Kansas Medical Center has engaged in a massive cover up of
multiple incidents of animal abuse which have killed dozens of animals,”
Budkie said.
The alleged abuses involved rabbits, rats, mice and a gerbil. Dozens of
animals died, SAEN said, and a mouse was set on fire.
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