Federal inspectors found animals used for scientific testing suffered injuries and death at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The US Department of Agriculture last month issued a warning to UAB over its treatment of animals at the Animal Resources Program facility.
Inspectors said in a January report that UAB provided inadequate veterinary care to animals, “leading to trauma, injury, stress, discomfort and/or death in three separate instances.”
The USDA warning said that it “may pursue civil penalties, criminal prosecution, or other sanctions” if the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service obtains evidence of any future violations of federal regulations at UAB’s testing facility.
It also said that UAB had to improve the sanitation in their facilities, and ensure that animals had adequate water and veterinary care.
“UAB’s highly trained researchers work with animals to advance science and medicine,” the university said in a statement. “One of their chief responsibilities is the respectful and humane treatment of animals.”
“In the rare instances where compliance issues are identified, our practice is to self-report to the appropriate regulatory agency and deploy corrective actions in coordination with the regulatory agency’s oversight,” the statement says. “This research is a critical component of life-saving medical advancements for humans and animals alike, and we take seriously the treatment of animals in our care.”
According to the USDA inspection report, three ferrets died last year due to suffocation. Five others also had symptoms of asphyxiation due to cigarette smoke, although they fully recovered. The report said there was not enough airflow reaching the animals.
Inspectors also reported finding burns on a monkey after it had been sedated for an operation and placed on a heating pad. Another monkey had to be euthanized after it was attacked by a monkey that escaped its cage and “failed to thrive after treatment,” the report states.
The federal agency also reported that some animals did not have water, that there were dead cockroaches in a storage room and poor sanitation in one research building, and that some enclosures were not structurally sound enough to protect animals from injury.
The animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called for “an immediate investigation” into the facility.
“The wholesale neglect and incompetence that staff and experimenters at the University of Alabama–Birmingham (UAB) demonstrate would get them immediately fired from any Quickie-Mart, yet they continue to siphon taxpayer dollars by the fistful to torment animals in filthy conditions,” said Alka Chandna, the president of the organization, in a press release last month. “This abuse has to stop.”
The university’s spokesperson declined to comment on “specific concerns raised by animal activist groups,”
“…but it is important to note that our research is highly regulated and monitored to meet and exceed policies of regulatory and accrediting agencies,” the UAB statement said.
