National watchdog calls for new federal fine against UTMB
Media Coverage About SAEN Stop Animal Exploitation Now

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Dr. Robert Gibbens Director, Western Region, USDA
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Please LEVY a MAXIMUM FINE against University of Texas, Medical Branch Galveston, for their blatant disregard of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) when their negligence killed two monkeys. Their behavior must NOT be tolerated and MUST be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

 

National watchdog calls for new federal fine against UTMB
From David Yates,SETexasRecord.com, September 12, 2018

The University of Texas, Medical Branch (UTMB), has admitted the strangulation death of a monkey in a report filed with a federal agency, according to a national research watchdog group.

Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) is urging a new penalty be leveled against the lab, which paid a $33,000 fine in late 2016 for other violations of federal law, a press release states.

Not only has UTMB admitted the strangulation, but the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has also cited the lab for another primate fatality following an escape, and the deranged state of yet another monkey, said SAEN, an Ohio-based nonprofit watchdog group that monitors U.S. research facilities for illegal activity and animal abuse.

A federal report obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, and received just last Friday, describes the money who was " . . . discovered dead in his home cage during daily health monitoring checks on Sunday February 11th. . . . The monkey was able to slip his head through a small loop of chain that held the toy into his cage and became stuck. We believe that the monkey panicked, and his actions drew the chain tighter, asphyxiating him."

A previously obtained USDA report documents two earlier federal violations at UTMB. One was associated with a monkey escape that resulted in injury and euthanasia. In the other incident, one monkey showed "signs of psychological distress,” losing more than 20 percent of his/her hair.

"You would think that after paying a federal fine, and being found out of compliance with federal standards by multiple agencies that UTMB would make some attempt to actually follow regulations and keep animals alive and healthy," said Michael Budkie, A.H.T., co-founder and executive director at SAEN. "Apparently they are incapable of meeting basic standards,” he added.

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