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82 Animals Suffocated, Rabbit Killed by Overdose at Utah State University, Feds Issue Citations: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
August 11, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Logan, Utah –

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna regarding two just-posted critical citations issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture against Utah State University after staff used carbon dioxide to kill 82 naked mole rats and fatally overdosed a rabbit during a procedure:

Naked mole rats are biologically adapted to survive in low-oxygen environments, so what they endured for over 40 minutes in a carbon dioxide chamber was not euthanasia but a slow, agonizing suffocation. Laboratory staff also accidentally killed a rabbit by turning up the animal’s anesthesia during a procedure and never turning it back down. The university hasn’t met basic federal animal welfare standards, has deviated from approved experimental plans, and certainly hasn’t properly put animals out of their suffering. Utah State University should embrace the superior, non-animal research methods outlined in PETA’s Research Modernization NOW, which would advance science without using animals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

For Media: Contact PETA’s Media Response Team.
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“Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights?”

— Ingrid Newkirk, PETA Founder and co-author of Animalkind

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