Media Coverage About SAEN Stop Animal Exploitation Now

USC faces a $114,000 penalty after researchers allegedly neglected three rabbits that died in a lab

 

From Kate Stuzin, USCAnnenbergMedia.com, November 1, 2024

On October 30, Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) filed a federal complaint seeking a $114,000 penalty against USC after USDA inspectors reported severe abuse of three rabbits in a USC lab.

The USDA inspection report, based on a September 11 routine inspection, detailed how USC researchers botched the eye surgeries of three rabbits on March 11, 2024. The rabbits suffered “discomfort, distress, and pain.”

The rabbits were then euthanized.

Executive Director of SAEN Michael A. Budkie authored the complaint alleging several critical violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which called the incident “one of the worst inspection failures of 2024.”

“Critical violations, in and of themselves, are comparatively rare, and the fact that they have multiples in one inspection makes it even more rare,” he said. “The fact that all of this information is available about one research facility means that this research facility is one of the worst in the U.S.,” he said.

USC provided Annenberg Media with the following statement in response to the federal complaint:
“We hold ourselves to the highest standards for ethics and integrity in research. We take these issues very seriously and continually evaluate possible additional steps to ensure full compliance, as we are doing in this case.”

The university clarified that research on eye treatments often involves rabbits, as “there are no adequate, comparable non-animal models for optical study.” The study focused on testing a new eye-drop formula designed to heal injuries.

One rabbit had “severe ocular discharge, crusting, matted fur, and debris stuck around
the experimental (right) eye.”

Another rabbit had “decreased appetite” and a “malodorous purulent skin wound” that Budkie found particularly telling.

“This had reached a point where the inspector said it was not only purulent, but to be very blunt, the wound stank. This wound did not happen within the last 24 hours preceding the inspection. The condition of these animals was ignored for days, and all these researchers had to do, and this was required by their own protocol, was report the condition of these animals to the USC veterinary staff, and they failed to do that,” he said.

The third rabbit experienced “skin sloughing,” another symptom that takes days to develop.
The inspection revealed that if the post-operative care had been reported and conducted correctly, the rabbits could have avoided death and suffering.

“Last April, the USC Department of Animal Resources discovered three rabbits in poor health and took immediate action, then logged the incident in a report that was made fully available to USDA in September. The study was completed before the federal inspection,” USC said in a statement to Annenberg Media.

The university statement confirms that it was not until at least three weeks after the surgeries—in April—that the department took any course of action. While the university may have taken “immediate action,” to address the incident, the researchers took weeks to report the rabbits’ conditions.

The three violations list all three rabbits, leading SAEN to request $12,722 per infraction/per animal, totalling $114,000. Budkie said the large penalty is rare, but won’t make an “effective punishment” because the university has a sizable research fund to dip into. In the 2023 fiscal year, USC received approximately $1.04 billion in research funding.

This is not USC’s first animal abuse case. In 2021, the university faced accusations of mutilation, unnecessary overdoses and inflicted stab wounds on multiple animals. School officials placed the lab’s animal use protocols on suspension in December for at least 90 days. SAEN settled the lawsuit that same year, though the settlement terms were not disclosed.

“USC has a history of suspending protocols due to violations, which is unusual,” Budkie said. “On an annual basis in the United States, despite the fact that there are over 1000 registered research facilities, there’s probably maybe 50 or 60 protocols total that are suspended. The fact that USC has had to suspend the protocols repeatedly is another indication of a systemic problem.”

USC told Annenberg Media in a statement that the researchers involved have since gone through “comprehensive training.” Their research has continued under “increased oversight.” The identities of the researchers have not been revealed.

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