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Media Coverage Animal advocacy group says UNR has “worst research lab” in nation Frank X. Mullen Jr. RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL Stop Animal Exploitation Now:
http://www.all-creatures.org/saen/ Top research university
offenders * USDA animal welfare violations * University of Nevada, Reno
— 46 in 10 months. * University of California, San Francisco — 51 in
three years * University of Florida — 47 in three years * University of
Connecticut — 43 in three years * University of Pennsylvania — 36 in
three years Source: USDA documents, Stop Animal Exploitation Now, Inc.
and news stories. A national research watchdog organization has dubbed the University
of Nevada, Reno the “worst lab in the nation” because it accumulated
more federal animal welfare violations in less time than any other
research institution. “UNR has broken federal law 46 times in less than one year, and these
serious violations jeopardized the lives of dozens of animals,” said
Michael A. Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now,
an Ohio-based animal advocacy group. “The University of California San
Francisco lab, that we previously named as the worst, had only 17
violations in a comparable period of time. UNR eclipsed that in just a
period of months, so they essentially tripled the UCSF record.” Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited UNR for 46
violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and levied a “reduced” fine
of $11,400 against the university system. UNR paid the settlement rather
than fight the citations and risk the “higher civil or criminal
penalties” threatened by the agency. Marsha Read, interim vice president for research and dean of UNR’s
graduate school, said the group’s designation of UNR as the nation’s
“worst lab” isn’t credible. She said that’s because Stop Animal
Exploitation now “does not have published standards for animal care
programs and their goal to abolish animal research presents a conflict.”
The 46 USDA violations included seven incidents of depriving animals
of water, three incidents of animals being deprived of food or fed in an
unsanitary way, three citations for inadequate veterinary care and six
in which the university’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
failed to enforce the Animal Welfare Act. Read made a distinction between the mistreatment and neglect of
animals cited by the USDA and “abuse” of animals. “I want to underscore that the USDA investigation did not result in
any findings of animal abuse,” she said. “...We have implemented the
majority of recommendations for facilities and administrative
improvements from these reports and implementation of the remainder is
in progress. As President John Lilley has firmly stated, we are
committed to the appropriate and humane treatment of animals under our
care.” A USDA official said this week the agency doesn’t keep statistics of
the number of inspections or citations issued. But news reports about
federal animal welfare violations at other universities support the
research group’s contention that UNR has collected more violations in a
shorter period than any other research university. The animal rights advocates said their goal to end animal testing has
nothing to do with the facts of the case because the numbers can’t be
dismissed. “UNR (has) a truly dismal record,” said Budkie, an animal health
technician trained at the University of Cincinnati who said he has been
working on animal lab issues since 1986. “When compared with other labs
mentioned in our reports, UNR is far and away the worst in the nation
even though they are pretending the USDA citations are no big deal.” Budkie said his group was founded in 1996 and is dedicated to
educating the public about animal exploitation, abuse and waste of
research dollars. He said UNR’s $11,400 fine is “grossly inadequate”
considering the severity of the violations. But he said because the USDA
has “a record of lax enforcement of animal welfare problems at
universities,” it’s significant that UNR was fined at all and received
so many citations. “When universities are fined, the standard is a few hundred or a few
thousand dollars,” he said. “As research labs go, UNR is relatively
small and so even a reduced fine of $11,400 is remarkable. But in the
long run it isn’t much money; it’s not going to make much of a
difference.” A federal Office of the Inspector General report on USDA concluded in
1996 that the agency has a history of levying fines that are almost
meaningless to offenders. The agency “cannot assess monetary penalties
for violations unless the violator agrees to pay them, and penalties are
often so low that violators merely regard them as part of the cost of
doing business.” Lilley last week said the penalty was a “nominal” fine. Darby Holaday, USDA spokesman, said the agency is doing its job. He
said it acted swiftly to investigate animal abuse and neglect complaints
lodged against UNR by College of Agriculture faculty whistle-blower
Hussein S. Hussein. The USDA report confirms agency inspectors and investigators made
five unannounced visits to the campus between September and March and
verified 24 violations of the Animal Welfare Act. In addition, the
investigators took sworn affidavits from witnesses and collected photos
and other evidence to document 22 other violations. The agency didn’t
cite UNR for the deaths of 45 pregnant sheep who died in October 2002
after being left without food or water for up to four days, an incident
the College of Agriculture Dean David Thawley has said remains “a
mystery.” Holaday said the agency will continue to monitor UNR’s progress in
complying with the Animal Welfare Act. “Because of the university’s prior non-compliance investigations and
violations, we’d certainly recommend more inspections,” he said. Jane Tors, UNR spokeswoman, said the institution welcomes further
scrutiny. She said UNR generated $121 million in sponsored and research
projects last year, and about a third involved animals. According to
USDA reports, the university system last year had 1,854 animals that
fell under federal regulations, with 283 of those animals — including
198 sheep — subjected to experiments in which pain and suffering are
alleviated by drugs. “We have continually made improvements over time, and will continue
to do so in the future,” Tors said. “For example, we have invested
$350,000 in animal facility improvements over the past few years. A new
on-demand watering system was installed for (pigs) at the Main Station
Farm last fall. More recently, the University has been focusing time and
resources on recommendations by agriculture and research experts, and
items noted through the most recent USDA inspections.”
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