PETA Sues University of Maryland for Records of Cruel Experiments on Ferrets

Hiding Information About Publicly Funded Procedures Is Likely Illegal, Says Group

For Immediate Release:
April 29, 2010

Contact:
Ian Smith  757-622-7382

Baltimore -- This morning, PETA filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City against the University of Maryland-Baltimore (UMB) and UMB Acting President Albert Reece for alleged violations of the Maryland Public Information Act. The lawsuit was filed after UMB failed to provide PETA with documents related to the university's invasive and taxpayer-funded experiments on ferrets. UMB has refused to turn over all but nine pages of what is believed to be at least 140 documents detailing painful experiments on ferrets and has insisted on a payment of $1,100 before it will release those nine pages.

In the experiments--which were funded by the National Institutes of Health and UMB's Bressler Research Foundation--ferrets were denied water and then given access to a water spout that delivered a shock to their tongues while they drank. The ferrets were confined to specially designed soundproof cages that had metal floors to ensure that the electrical shocks were fully delivered to the animals.

In other experiments, ferrets had holes cut into their heads and metal screws driven into their skulls. Metal chambers were then cemented to the ferrets' skulls so that experimenters could record the animals' brain activity as they were exposed to sounds of different frequencies.

"UMB has squandered taxpayer dollars to conduct these cruel and wasteful experiments, and now it wants to throw away more money in legal fees trying to hide what went on," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "People have a right to know that their tax dollars are being spent to maim and torment animals."

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