ACTION ALERT:
Contact:
Dr. Robert Gibbens
Director, Animal Welfare Operations, USDA-APHIS
[email protected]
[email protected]
Please levy the MAXIMUM FINE against Vanderbilt University for their blatant
disregard of the Animal Welfare Act when their negligence caused 5 guinea
pigs to die, possibly by suffocation. Their behavior should NOT be tolerated
and MUST be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Vanderbilt bans scientists from using animals, suspends experiments
From Blake Summers, WSMV.com, January 12, 2021
The Vanderbilt University research administration recently suspended an
animal experiment following the deaths of multiple animals in an illegally
performed experiment, according to a release from Stop Animal Exploitation
Now.
An employee with Vanderbilt was also suspended indefinitely during this
time.
SAEN is an Ohio-based national watchdog that monitors U.S. research
facilities for illegal activities and animal abuse.
A complaint against Vanderbilt has been filed with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture over the deaths of five animals in what were called "failed
ventilator testing procedures."
"I am very concerned that this phrase 'failed ventilator testing procedures'
could mean that these five guinea pigs suffocated," said Michael A. Budkie,
A.H.T., SAEN co-founder, in the federal complaint.
The SAEN complaint alleges violations of federal regulations for animal
handling, and for project supervision by Vanderbilt's Institutional Animal
Care & Use Committee (IACUC).
The complaint also raises the possibility that Vanderbilt may have failed to
report the project suspension to the federal regulator at the U.S. Dept. of
Agriculture.
The latest animal deaths at Vanderbilt follow the issuance of two serious
non-compliances by the USDA against the laboratory in consecutive years,
2019 & 2020.
Serious citations (Critical or Direct) appear in only two percent of all
USDA inspections of US laboratories.
"The fact that Vanderbilt has received Critical/Direct citations in two
consecutive years puts this facility among the worst laboratories in the
entire nation," added Budkie. "Now Vanderbilt has killed five more animals,
and potentially hidden the project suspension from the USDA."
Previous reports cited Vanderbilt for failing to provide adequate veterinary
care to six rabbits who received painful injections into their eyes, and for
the illegal deaths of 17 gerbils during multiple botched procedures over the
course of 10 months.