Written by Michelle Kretzer
The University of Utah just got slapped with an official warning from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for repeatedly violating the federal Animal Welfare Act by failing to properly review and oversee experiments on animals. If the university is caught violating this law again, it could face up to $10,000 in fines per incident.
The USDA's action was based in part on violations that were uncovered following PETA's 2009 undercover investigation that brought to light the terrible suffering of the dogs, cats, monkeys, rabbits, and other animals experimented on there. We documented that monkeys were deprived of water so that they would cooperate with experimenters in exchange for a sip of water, that a kitten died from dehydration, and that other sick and injured animals were denied veterinary care and left to languish and eventually die. You may recall that many of the animals the school was using in experiments were homeless cats and dogs it had purchased from local animal shelters until an intense year-long PETA campaign put an end to pound seizure in Utah. Since this landmark victory, several animal experiments at the U have been completely halted.
You can help animals suffering at the University of Utah and in other horrendous laboratories by clicking here to ask the federal government to divert tax dollars away from cruel animal experiments and put them toward modern and humane non-animal research methods.
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If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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