New PETA Study Ranks UW As Nation’s Second-Worst Animal Welfare Violator Among Top-Funded Universities

For Immediate Release:
March 3, 2025

Contact:
Brandi Pharris 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 Washington (UW) as the second-worst offender, with a whopping 29 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 UW’s violations noted in the study:

• An experimenter performed 30 cranial surgeries on mice without the certification to perform independent surgery and failed to sterilize instruments, properly prepare incision sites, and provide local anesthetic and post-operative pain relief.
• A monkey endured brain trauma after someone extended a tube too far into the animal’s brain during surgery to place a recording device.
• A monkey died after an untested anesthetic machine malfunctioned while being used to administer inhalant anesthesia, causing excessive pressure to build up in the monkey’s lungs.
• Five mice died of hyperthermia after a technician placed their cage under a heat lamp and left them unattended.

“Animals are in danger every minute at UW and other negligent, careless universities,” says study author and PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna. “UW 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 Pittsburgh with 28, the University of Michigan with 19, 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.