ACTION ALERT:
Contact:
Dr. Robert Gibbens
Director, Western Region, USDA
[email protected]
[email protected]
Please levy the MAXIMUM FINE against Montana State University for their blatant disregard of the Animal Welfare Act when their negligence caused the deaths of three guinea pigs, and injured a monkey. Their behavior should NOT be tolerated and MUST be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Group claims Montana State violated animal welfare
From Liz Weber Chronicle Staff Writer, December 1, 2020
An animal welfare group filed a complaint against Montana State
University alleging the university’s research violated federal protections
for animals in two incidents.
The complaint, filed to the United States Department of Agriculture by Stop
Animal Exploitation Now, accuses MSU of multiple violations of the Animal
Welfare Act, which resulted in either animal deaths or serious injuries.
“Since (MSU) negligence has now caused serious injury to one animal and
killed three, I must insist that you take the most severe action allowable
under the Animal Welfare Act,” wrote SAEN Executive Director Michael Budkie
in the complaint.
SAEN is a national animal welfare group focused on research laboratories.
The group has filed similar complaints with the USDA against Texas Tech and
the University of Washington in recent years.
MSU spokesperson Michael Becker said the incidents in SAEN’s filing were
reported to the university’s oversight groups voluntarily through its
existing protocols.
“MSU has a strong animal care and use program, and reporting adverse events
when they happen is a vital part of that,” he said in an email.
Budkie urged the USDA to issue the maximum fine possible against the
university — $10,000 for each infraction per animal.
The complaint filed by the group alleges the animal deaths and injury were
due to negligence on the part of MSU.
The first incident occurred in November and involved an injured monkey. It
was found with blood “around his right forelimb in the area of the bicep and
some blood around the mouth,” according to an MSU report on the event.
The monkey was injured in a fight when a larger male monkey attacked it
“following unintentional exposure.” The fight was possible “due to an error
in cage manipulation,” according to the report.
The monkey’s wounds were cleaned and stitched, and he was given antibiotics.
The second incident cited happened in May and involved three guinea pigs
that died or were euthanized after being exposed to a respiratory irritant.
After being exposed to an inhalant, three guinea pigs had trouble breathing.
When a researcher returned from fetching a veterinarian, about a minute
later, “the guinea pig was barely breathing so she was euthanized by the
vet,” according to the MSU report of the event.
Another guinea pig had already died and a second was “still having some
difficulties breathing so we elected to euthanize her for humane purposes,”
according to the report.
The report stated that planned treatments of the remaining guinea pigs “were
immediately terminated” and future dosages of the substance would be
diluted.
Becker said the university’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
reviews all cases, and corrective actions were put in place with animal
welfare prioritized.
He said reports like the ones filed by MSU “help us not only identify and
fix problems but also help us improve the program as a whole.”