ACTION ALERT:
Dr. Roxanne Mullaney, 9/25/23
Deputy Administrator, Animal Care, USDA/APHIS/AC
[email protected]
[email protected]
Please launch a full investigation of the UC Davis incident which cooked a
primate to death in a heated van. This horrific death must not go
unpunished!
WATCHDOG REPORT: University of California at Davis, Repeated USDA Offender, Admits Illegally ‘Cooking Monkey to Death’
From Kristin Trent, The Davis Vanguard, Septembedr 19, 2023
DAVIS, CA – A national watchdog report sent to federal regulators reveals
the University of California, Davis (UCD) admitted its laboratory staff
illegally “cooked” a primate to death by heating exposure for more than two
hours—killing the animal and breaking federal law.
UCD’s internal report recounts how a monkey was left in a transport van with
a forced air heater blowing 130-degree air directly onto the caged animal
for over an hour and was euthanized after it was found in a comatose state.
Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), a national watchdog nonprofit whose
mission is to end animal experimentation through investigation, has filed a
with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, urging a full federal
investigation.
The university’s Primate Center has broken federal law and USDA guidelines
in the past, according to records, incurring a fine of $4,815 in Aug. 2004
for the death of seven primates and a citation for 19 primate deaths in 2009
and 2010.
In addition, the primate deaths in 2004 involved a similar “mechanical failure that resulted in the overheating of the room in which the animals were housed,” according to the UCD report.
The watchdog organization alleges the university’s Primate Center
violated regulations for proper animal handling and this is not their first
time. The University’s Primate Lab has previously violated USDA regulations
and received an official warning in 2022.
A USDA report released that same year discloses the facility subjected
roughly two of three (62 percent) of primates actively used for
experimentation to research methods involving pain or distress to animals,
with accompanying use of anesthetic, analgesic, or tranquilizing drugs.
In light of the repeated misconduct, SAEN is urging USDA to rule the
primate’s death as both a repeat and critical violation of their regulations
to increase involvement of federal regulators.
The organization has also written a letter to UCD Chancellor Gary S. May,
urging that all employees involved in the most recent primate death be
subject to dismissal.
Michael A. Budkie, the co-founder of SAEN, remarked in light of the recent
investigation into the University’s Primate Lab:
“The California Primate Research Center at UCD has existed for decades. I am
utterly amazed that after dealing with monkeys for decades, which most
certainly included transporting those animals across the large UCD campus
dozens if not hundreds of times, that proper procedures to ensure the safety
of these animals still do not exist,” said Budkie.
Budkie added, “The heater which spewed out 130-degree air was turned on at
least by 8:15. The staff claims that the monkey was observed between 8:45
and 9:00 and “appeared not to be in distress.”
I do not find this statement to be credible.
He continued, remarking, “The incompetence of UCD staff is clear and
uncontroverted. Who in their right mind would think it would be acceptable
to blow 130-degree air on a primate in an enclosed area for as much as 2 1/4
hours? Anyone so utterly oblivious to the actual welfare of these monkeys
should never be permitted to work with them again.”
“If after experimenting on and housing thousands (of) primates for decades,
UC Davis staff is still unable to even transport these animals without
killing them—why should we believe they can do science?” Budkie charged.