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Newly Revealed Records Shed Light on School's Cruel Animal Experiments and Violations of Law
For Immediate Release:September 26, 2011
Contact:Robbyn Brooks 202-483-7382
Baltimore -- In response to a lawsuit filed by PETA in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City over alleged violations of the Maryland Public Information Act, the University of Maryland–Baltimore (UMB) has now provided PETA with more than 100 pages of records related to the university's taxpayer-funded invasive and deadly experiments on animals. These documents reveal details of cruel brain experiments on ferrets and rats and multiple citations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.
"The documents reluctantly released by the university show that millions of tax dollars are used at UMB to torment and kill animals in cruel experiments that routinely violate the law," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "It's clear why UMB tried to evade open records laws in a desperate attempt to protect the school's reputation."
The documents show that rats and ferrets had holes drilled into their heads, electrodes inserted, and metal screws driven into their skulls in order to hold in place a metal post and recording device that measured brain responses to different sounds. The rats were locked in chambers and blasted with loud noise for an hour to induce "ringing in the ears." If they were "accidentally" caused to go deaf, they were killed.
The documents also describe incidents in 2007 and 2008 for which the school was cited or investigated by federal authorities. These include incidents in which two baboons died during a transfusion procedure in which they were not properly monitored, sick animals were not provided with veterinary treatment, and primates who were suffering from signs of severe psychological stress were not identified and treated. In addition, mice died of starvation or dehydration when employees forgot to check on them for days.
In 2010, UMB was cited by federal authorities for not adequately searching for alternatives to animal tests and for failing to provide animals with adequate veterinary treatment and oversight.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.