Utah State University Denies Injured Animal Veterinary Care, PETA Pushes for Federal Probe
For Immediate Release:
March 27, 2025
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
In a letter sent today, PETA urges the National Institutes of Health to investigate Utah State University for possible violations of federal animal care guidelines after staff apparently failed to provide appropriate veterinary care to one of the rats used in the “Analysis of Behavior: Advanced” undergraduate course (PSY 3400), despite noticing a possible tail fracture.
PETA also sent a letter to Dr. Alan Smith, Interim President of Utah State, condemning the faculty’s shameful indifference to an animal’s likely severe pain and suffering and urging the university to transition to more effective, animal-free educational tools.
PETA obtained university records showing that a laboratory staff member noticed the rat’s possible tail fracture and discussed it with a supervising graduate student, who told two others. However, the records do not indicate that a veterinarian examined the animal or that any pain medication was administered, and no one reexamined the animal for another 29 days.
“Utah State University’s seeming indifference to an animal’s possible tail fracture shows how low animal welfare is on the school’s list of priorities,” says PETA Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA urges the university to embrace modern, human-relevant simulation programs that spare rats and teach psychology students about humanbehavior.”
The rats used in PSY 3400 are locked inside noisy metal boxes and blasted with random bursts of bright light. The experiments—which previously used pigeons—last nearly an hour and attempt to train the animals to push a lever to receive food pellets. Video footage of the experiments is available here.
Rats are highly social animals who become emotionally attached to each other and form bonds with their human guardians. They express empathy when another rat is distressed and put themselves in harm’s way rather than allow another sentient being to suffer.
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.
