New PETA Study Ranks University of Michigan As Nation’s Fourth-Worst Animal Welfare Violator Among Top-Funded Universities

For Immediate Release:
March 3, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

A newly published PETA study analyzing animal welfare violations at the 20 institutions of higher education nationwide that received the most funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) identified the University of Michigan (U-M) as the fourth-worst offender, with a whopping 19 violations in just a two-year period.

PETA’s study, published in the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law’s Journal of Animal and Environmental Law, analyzed violations from NIH case reports dated October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2023. It includes incidents in which animals experienced pain, injury, and death due to neglect, incompetence, and disregard by experimenters and staff.

Among U-M’s violations:

• In several instances, surgical wounds reopened and laboratory staff attempted to close them without approval from veterinarians or the animal oversight committee.
• A staff member tried to euthanize four rabbits but did not perform a secondary method of euthanasia to confirm their death. One rabbit was found alive and was later euthanized by a veterinarian.
• On seven separate occasions, experimenters administered expired anesthetics or pain medications to animals. In just one incident, approximately 200 mice were given an anesthetic two months past the expiration date.
• Experimenters failed to provide adequate pain relief to 10 rats.

“Animals are in danger every minute at U-M and other negligent, careless universities,” says study author and PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna. “U-M should lose its NIH funding and schools nationwide must switch to modern, human-relevant research.”

PETA’s analysts documented 231 animal welfare violations across 20 educational institutions, which collectively received more than $11.8 billion from NIH in 2023 alone. The violations were self-reported, indicating the actual number may be even higher.

PETA’s study calls out other top offenders, such as the University of Wisconsin–Madison with 35 violations, the University of Washington with 29, the University of Pittsburgh with 28, and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill with 17.

PETA scientists’ Research Modernization Now provides evidence of the failure of studies on animals and lays out a strategy for transitioning to cutting-edge, non-animal methodologies.

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.