Reckless Animal Experimenter Forced to Resign After PETA Exposé

September 2014

Following PETA’s exposé of the mistreatment of animals in the laboratories of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Charles Rupprecht—a callous and negligent animal experimenter formerly at the CDC—was forced to resign from Ross University, where he was the associate dean in charge of experimentation on animals. After a review of internal agency records, PETA discovered that when Rupprecht had served as chief of the CDC’s rabies program, he knowingly injected monkeys with a dangerous strain of rabies that the handlers weren’t inoculated against and failed to inform the staff. He was responsible for at least nine violations of federal animal welfare regulations between 2007 and 2012—including incidents in which animals were infected with rabies and left unmonitored. Two monkeys were even found dead in their cages after they had been infected with viruses and inadequately monitored. As a result, Rupprecht was permanently banned access to all CDC animal laboratories and resigned in disgrace before being hired by the university.