Charles River’s Appallingly Long List of Animal Welfare Violations
Charles River Laboratories is the world’s largest breeder of animals for use in experiments, profiting from the pain, misery, and death of sentient beings. From mice to monkeys, it breeds and sells millions of animals for use in laboratory experiments worldwide, supplying one of every two animals used in experimentation.
It is also one of the largest importers of monkeys into the U.S., bringing in thousands of monkeys stolen from their forest homes or bred on decrepit factory farms. The company posts annual revenues more than a billion dollars, but cannot institute simple safeguards to ensure that animals are safe.
Charles River violates federal animal welfare law with appalling frequency. There are high-profile violations, such as the time when 32 monkeys baked alive when no one noticed a thermostat malfunction, or when a monkey was scalded to death when her cage was run through a high-temperature cage washer—while she was still trapped inside it.
But there’s also the everyday incompetence: inadequate veterinary care; failure to provide suffering animals with pain relief; inadequate housing; shoddy surgical methods; and failure to investigate non-animal alternatives to experiments involving severe suffering.
Below is a detailed list of animal welfare violations at Charles River facilities, documented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
- Dogs were placed in cages that were too small, which failed to meet minimum space requirements.
- Monkeys were shipped from Texas to Reno, Nevada, without proper veterinary inspection, endangering the monkeys and the public at large.
- Rabbits were held in 10-inch-high containers for up to 5 days and were provided shipping gel instead of water daily. The facility failed to report this on the annual report.
- A protocol failed to provide a rationale for the number of animals being experimented on.
- Animals were used in an experiment without scientific justification for the number being used.
- Monkeys were shipped from Reno to the University of Utah without proper veterinary inspection, endangering the monkeys and the public at large.
- Three pigs were euthanized after suffering serious leg injuries.
- One pig jumped or fell out of an enclosure while the door was open.
- The second injured a hoof while staff removed the pig from an enclosure.
- A third suffered a leg injury while in a restraint sling.
- A damaged floor area and a deteriorating ceiling were found in two different rooms that confine animals. Numerous flies were noted on the walls and in an uncovered drain in another room that confines animals.
- Staff euthanized a rabbit who was severely injured while being dosed with a medication and lost full function of his/her hind legs.
- Inspectors found such severe “rusted, flaking metal” on cages affecting 1,971 monkeys that officials expressed concern that the deterioration could “compromise structural integrity.”
- Staff bled six guinea pigs from the same eye within two days, when procedures called for at least seven days between bleeds.
- Staff bled nine guinea pigs from the eyes with no indication that any pain relief was given.
- A monkey was scalded to death after being left in a cage that was run through a high-temperature cage washer.
- At least three times, staff were required to look into the cages to ensure they were empty. Not one staffer noticed the monkey.
- The facility’s animal oversight committee misclassified a significant deficiency in which inspectors found two rabbits with squinted eyes. Veterinary staff noted the rabbits were in pain/distress, and it should have been classified as a significant deficiency.
- At least 12 pigs suffered untreated skin lesions, ranging in size from ¼ – to 6-inches on the animals’ backs. The area was reddened with crusted material.
- Two monkeys underwent surgery in December 2007. Each monkey developed swelling of one hand and the forearm. Both were treated. One recovered, but the other developed further complications and was euthanized.
- A dog underwent surgery on July 25, 2007. The dog was thin and not eating on August 20, 2007. Exploratory surgery found a gauze square was left in the dog’s abdomen, blocking blood flow to the dog’s small intestine. The dog was euthanized.
- A monkey had surgery on August 8, 2008, and was supposed to receive pain medication, but records show staff failed to give it to them on multiple occasions.
- A monkey had signs of plucking out his own hair, with marked hair loss on the monkey’s entire back. Staff failed to notice.
- Temperatures in an indoor housing facility climbed to more than 85 degrees, with inadequate ventilation, for more than four hours on May 28, 2008, killing 32 monkeys. Thirty died immediately, while two never recovered and were euthanized. A total of 68 monkeys were affected.
- In September 2008, Charles River was fined $10,000 for the incident.
- Animals were used in an experiment without scientific justification for the number being used.
- Pain relief was being withheld from animals in an experiment without a scientific justification.
- At least nine animals with injuries were untreated.
- Seven pigs had scrapes and scratches along their backs.
- One dog suffered from cherry eye.
- A rabbit had an ear with thickened and reddened skin; the ear was also warm to the touch and had multiple scabs.
- There was no indication that these animals received veterinary care.
- An experimenter performed a painful procedure on animals, but failed to conduct a search for alternative methods, as required by law.
- The animal oversight committee approved a painful experiment without first ensuring that a search for alternatives had been conducted.
