Institutionalized Animal Cruelty – Lab: Care Research – 20130603

Institutionalized Animal Cruelty – Lab: Care Research – 20130603

Lamb of God

Lamb of God

People are always asking us why the government doesn’t do something to end the suffering of animals. The simple answer is that the whole government oversight operation is broken and deliberately ineffective, as the following SAEN press release about Care Research shows.

“The USDA has announced levying a miniscule fine against the Fort Collins Care Research LLC lab for multiple violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act relevant to an incident which killed three dogs.

Research watchdog group SAEN has labeled the $679 fine ‘miniscule,’ and has contacted Tom Vilasck (Secretary of Agriculture) and Phyllis Fong (Inspector General, USDA) calling for an investigation of the fine by the Office of the Inspector General.

SAEN (Stop Animal Exploitation NOW – www.saenonline.org ) had contacted the Western Regional Office of the USDA to insist on the issuance of a fine against Care Research for the 2011 citations relevant to 3 suspicious dog deaths at the Fort Collins lab.

Labs can be fined as much as $10,000 per violation.  Since the inspection report referenced in the fine had 3 violations listed relevant to 3 dog deaths, the lab could have been fined as much as $90,000.

The December 6, 2011, inspection report cited Care Research for inadequate monitoring of research by the Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee, Unqualified Personnel, and two separate citations for Inadequate Veterinary Care.  Three out of four of these violations are directly relevant to the dog deaths.

The report reveals that at 3:40 PM on May 19, 2011, 3 dogs were simply found dead after having been checked earlier that day and noted to have no abnormalities.  Even at 3:40 these animals were initially noted to have no abnormalities, and then the caretaker apparently noticed that 3 of the dogs were actually dead, and crossed out the original entry.

The report also lists a log entry from May 17, 2011, disclosing a watering system malfunction and stating “the automatic watering system was not working and that the dogs did not have access to water.”  Two days later the dogs were dead.  The report also discloses that the lab’s veterinarian was not involved in the post-mortems on the three dogs, and that no tissue samples were taken to ascertain the actual cause of death.

“Negligence by Care Research staff killed three dogs suspiciously and should have drawn a much higher fine,” said Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T., Executive Director, SAEN.   “The USDA has literally allowed this lab to get away with murder.  This grievous miscarriage of justice must be investigated.”

The USDA fine document and inspection report and relevant documentation is available upon request from SAEN. http://www.saenonline.org/co/res-fr-co-care.html

We believe that the whole laboratory industry is staffed by hard of heart people, for they are the only ones who could do the horrible things to animals that are routinely done to animals every day; and such small fines will only be viewed as a cost of doing business, and no incentive to better train their personnel or increase staff.

We all need to continually speak out and oppose all forms of animal exploitation. As these instances show, the government isn’t going to do it for us.

Go on to: Institutionalized Animal Cruelty – Lab: MPI Research – 20130520

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