ACTION ALERT:
Contact:
Contact Dr. Robert Gibbens
Director, Western Region, USDA
(970) 494-7478
[email protected]
[email protected]
SAMPLE MESSAGE:
Please levy the MAXIMUM FINE against Texas Biomedical Research Institute
(TBRI) for their blatant disregard of the law which killed two monkeys and
injured two others, violating the Animal Welfare Act multiple times. Their
behavior should NOT be tolerated and MUST be punished to the fullest extent
of the law.
An animal activist group is calling for a San Antonio research lab to shut down
From Roxie Bustamante, KEN5.com, January 9, 2020
Two monkeys reportedly died and two others were injured at the Texas
Biomedical Research Institute in 2019.
SAN ANTONIO — A national animal rights group known as Stop Animal
Exploitation Now (SAEN) filed a federal complaint to the USDA after two
monkeys died and two others were injured at the Texas Biomedical Research
Institute last year.
SAEN's Michael A. Budkie said he previously worked for an animal research
lab similar to the one in San Antonio before he joined the group that aims
to halt animal research.
"Many of the things that we are trying to end right now are things I was
physically taught how to do," Budkie said.
The federal complaint claims that between 2011 and 2019, the San
Antonio-based research institute received 28 violations, including citations
relevant to at least eight monkey deaths and four injuries.
A spokesperson with the institute told KENS 5 that the facility
self-reported the incidents, including that two monkeys lost their lives and
two others that were hurt in 2019. The facility released a report to the
public this week following USDA's inspection.
"One of the recent deaths was by strangulation, which involved a cable that
was part of the caging system—a very similar death occurred in 2014," Budkie
said in response to the report. "We believe that clearly demonstrates that
TBRI is not doing anything to prevent these deaths from reoccurring in the
future."
The Texas Biomedical Research Institute released the following statement to
KENS 5 Thursday afternoon:
“Texas Biomed has a responsibility to provide high quality care to our
animals for the sake of the animals and research. In the event unforeseen
incidents occur on our campus, we take immediate corrective action and
report to the appropriate regulatory agencies. We believe strongly in
transparency not only with our regulatory agencies but with the community at
large, which is why we post notifications of our annual USDA inspections on
our SNPRC website and send it to local media. Animal research saves lives,
and we believe strongly in the quality of care we provide the animals, which
has resulted in life-saving therapies.”