Feds Cite University of Utah Labs for Violations of Animal Welfare Law

USDA Confirms PETA's Complaint That Animals Were Neglected and Mistreated

For Immediate Release:
April 22, 2010

Contact:
Kathy Guillermo 757-622-7382

Salt Lake City -- In response to a complaint filed by PETA after an eight-month undercover investigation inside University of Utah laboratories late last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cited the university for nine violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, confirming PETA's contention that animals are suffering at the school's facilities. Among the violations were the following:

* Causing a kitten to die from dehydration
* Performing surgery on a rabbit's eyes without proper approval
* Keeping calves restrained for days at a time and denying them the opportunity to properly stand up or walk
* Failing to provide adequate pain relief to a monkey after surgery
* Improperly treating injuries in pigs
* Severely crowding guinea pigs in cages
* Socially isolating a monkey without approval and denying the animal sufficient enrichment

"The USDA found the same things that our investigator found: neglect, misery, and death in University of Utah laboratories," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "The university may want to be viewed as a serious institution, but it is actually a dirty little hellhole for animals and a breeding ground for sloppy pseudo-science."

PETA's undercover investigation found that dogs used in University of Utah laboratories have their necks cut open and medical devices implanted inside. Cats, monkeys, and rats are forced to endure invasive experiments in which their skulls are cut open and electrodes are inserted into their brains, and mice are given enormous tumors and painful, deadly illnesses.

PETA's investigation also prompted Utah lawmakers to amend a state law by ending the mandatory sale of dogs and cats at government-run animal shelters to the University of Utah for cruel and deadly experiments. Immediately after the passage of the new law, the animal shelter that was the biggest seller of animals to the university announced that it would no longer provide animals to the school.

For more information, please visit PETA's Web site StopAnimalTests.com.