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Dr. Robert Gibbens Director, Western Region, USDAFerret brain experiments at University of Washington lead to animal welfare complaint
From Esmy Jimenez, KUOW.org, January 17, 2020
An animal rights organization is calling for the University of Washington
to be fined for an alleged violation of the Animal Welfare Act. Health
Sciences researchers at the university said they gave ferrets several
impacts to the skull during a traumatic brain injuries study.
After one animal died, the University of Washington followed a required
protocol to report it to the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare at the
National Institutes of Health.
However, a national animal rights advocacy organization on Thursday filed a
complaint against the university with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Animal Care office.
Michael Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now said in
the complaint that he wants the the university to be fined to the maximum
extent of $10,000 per infraction or animal. One of the ferrets used in the
study was ultimately euthanized.
"Inflicting a head injury on a ferret, when it is done in a way that does
not even follow the approved protocol — let alone the the anatomical and
physiological differences between ferrets and human beings — is not going to
provide information that is useful to human medicine," Budkie said.
In a statement the University of Washington said, "[It] did a careful
investigation of the situation" and that "while there was a variation from
the approved experimental protocol, the review found that there were no
apparent animal welfare issues."