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Media Coverage Animal rights group ranks UNR lab worst in nation
June 09, 2005 By SCOTT SONNER RENO, Nev. (AP) - An animal rights group has ranked the University of
Nevada, Reno's animal research lab as the worst in the nation after it
was cited with 46 violations of U.S. animal welfare regulations. The Agriculture Department fined the university $11,400 last month
for the violations, including mistreatment of pigs and sheep, improper
oversight of research animals and substandard animal care facilities.
"These were very serious charges," said Michael Budkie, executive
director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now!, based in Milford, Ohio. "In our opinion, the $11,000 fine they received was far too small,"
he said Thursday by telephone. Last year, the group ranked the University of California-San
Francisco as the worst lab nationally because it had been cited 51 times
over a three-year period for violating the Animal Welfare Act. "UNR eclipsed that in just a period of months, so we are naming them
as the worst lab. They essentially tripled the UCSF record, which is
quite an accomplishment," Budkie said. UNR officials said the ranking is unwarranted and that the school
already has taken steps to address most of the problems cited by the
Department of Agriculture. "USDA made it very clear to us they made no finding of animal abuse,"
UNR Provost John Frederick said Thursday. "If you read the findings, they are things like small irregularities
in facilities and a couple of procedural things we can clean up. They
are not things that lead one to believe animals have been grossly
mistreated here," he said. "If there had been that kind of finding, the fine would not have been
$11,000 but would have been hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said.
Frederick said he was not familiar with the group, other than that
"one of their goals is basically to shut down animal research. "I don't know what to say to a group like that. I think animal
research benefits lots of people, including animals," he said. Budkie, an animal health technician trained at the University of
Cincinnati, said he has been working on animal lab issues since 1986 and
incorporated the group in 1996. His group said other schools with more than 30 violations over the
past three years are University of Florida, 47; University of
Connecticut, 43; University of Pennsylvania, 36; University of Puerto
Rico, 33; and Johns Hopkins, 31. "We've been watching this whole thing now for awhile at UNR. Clearly
UNR is trying to downplay this thing and make it sound like it's no big
deal," Budkie said. The violations at UNR included repeatedly leaving 10 research pigs
with inadequate water and housing, frequent poor sanitation at animal
care facilities and a lack of veterinary care. UNR professor Hussein S. Hussein has filed a lawsuit against
university officials - including UNR President John Lilley - accusing
them of orchestrating reprisals and trying to fire him since he
complained to the USDA last summer about the alleged abuse of research
animals, including the deaths of dozens of sheep. The USDA investigation began last year after the Reno Gazette-Journal
reported on research at the school, finding that 38 pregnant sheep died
in October 2002 in a locked paddock in which they were kept without food
or water for three days. This story ran in the Akron Beacon Journal (OH), The Stamford
Advocate (CT), The Las Vegas Sun (NV), the Las Vegas Herald (NV), the
Chicago Tribune (IL), The Greenwich Time (CT), and Newsday Magazine
(NY). The story was also picked up by KRNV-TV (Reno), KESQ- TV (CA),
WFSB-TV (CT), and KMV Radio (NV).
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