38 Dead Monkeys at Lab Deserve Justice
Target: Tom Vilsack, United States Department of Agriculture
Goal: Take animal cruelty in research labs more seriously to ensure that cruelty does not continue.
A research lab has been handed down a lax punishment for the deaths of 38 monkeys over a five-year period. The lab has been fined $185,000 and will be shut down for 30 days pending inspection. Experts say that considering the lab’s parent company’s value, which is over $2 million, this fine is a slap on the wrist. Furthermore, the lab will be shut down during the holidays, usually the slowest time of the year for research labs like these. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspections during this time will be scheduled rather than random, giving the lab the opportunity to conceal any violations before inspection.
The nine-page complaint against the lab, SNBL USA, alleges a series of violations going back to December of 2011. Most of the deaths were recorded in October of 2013, when the lab shipped over 800 long-tailed macaques from Cambodia to Texas. The complaint alleges that lab veterinarians found the monkeys dehydrated and hungry upon arrival, yet instead of feeding them, they shipped the monkeys off to another facility. Upon arrival, five of the animals were dead due to dehydration and hypoglycemia, while another 17 died over the next few days or had to be euthanized. Later USDA complaints report concerns with inhumane euthanasia and handling procedures.
Careless handling like this should not be punished with a slap on the wrist. Labs that use animals for research are already cruel enough, and should be held to the highest possible standards when it comes to the safe handling and care of the animals. Lax punishments like these will only perpetuate cruelty. Sign to denounce this slap on the wrist and demand that the USDA take animal welfare at labs more seriously.
NIH, Stop Enabling This Cruel Laboratory to Receive Federal Contracts to Torment Monkeys. Just one day before Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories USA's trivial settlement amount was announced for its repeated violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the company was cited for additional incidents that involved the death of a monkey by strangulation, the death of an infant monkey, and more. Click to send your message to NIH
Behind the Locked Doors of U.S. and French Dog Laboratories
Video footage obtained by PETA reveals that behind closed doors at Texas A&M University, dogs deliberately bred to develop crippling muscle diseases struggled to walk and swallow. Experimenters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Missouri also engage in this shameful practice in which colonies of dogs are bred to suffer from progressive muscular degeneration. Video footage given to PETA France by the group Animal Testing shows that the same misery is being endured by dogs at France’s Alfort National Veterinary School.
Goal: Take animal cruelty in research labs more seriously to ensure that cruelty does not continue.
A research lab has been handed down a lax punishment for the deaths of 38 monkeys over a five-year period. The lab has been fined $185,000 and will be shut down for 30 days pending inspection. Experts say that considering the lab’s parent company’s value, which is over $2 million, this fine is a slap on the wrist. Furthermore, the lab will be shut down during the holidays, usually the slowest time of the year for research labs like these. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspections during this time will be scheduled rather than random, giving the lab the opportunity to conceal any violations before inspection.
The nine-page complaint against the lab, SNBL USA, alleges a series of violations going back to December of 2011. Most of the deaths were recorded in October of 2013, when the lab shipped over 800 long-tailed macaques from Cambodia to Texas. The complaint alleges that lab veterinarians found the monkeys dehydrated and hungry upon arrival, yet instead of feeding them, they shipped the monkeys off to another facility. Upon arrival, five of the animals were dead due to dehydration and hypoglycemia, while another 17 died over the next few days or had to be euthanized. Later USDA complaints report concerns with inhumane euthanasia and handling procedures.
Careless handling like this should not be punished with a slap on the wrist. Labs that use animals for research are already cruel enough, and should be held to the highest possible standards when it comes to the safe handling and care of the animals. Lax punishments like these will only perpetuate cruelty. Sign to denounce this slap on the wrist and demand that the USDA take animal welfare at labs more seriously.
