FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/News Conference Advisory
Friday, October 6, 2006
Contact: Michael Budkie, SAEN, 513-703-9865 (cell)

LOS ANGELES, Ca. - Animal rights activists - including the director of a national nonprofit organization in Cincinnati who investigates the treatment of animals in U.S. research laboratories - will confront the UCLA chancellor about animal abuse on the campus this next Monday.

The activists will meet at 10:15 a.m. Monday at the corner of Westwood & Leconte for the news conference. And, then attempt to meet with Administration officials at the UCLA Chancellor's Office (Murphy Hall, corner of Hilgard and Strathmore).

In September, after actions taken by underground animal rights groups targeted University of California researchers - including one at UCLA who says he quit doing animal research because of the attacks -a coalition of local and national organizations said UCLA was misleading the public about abuse on campus.

Internal UCLA documents on primate health care records and experimental procedures, including those of former UCLA researcher Dario Ringach, who quit doing animal research recently because he was targeted by the Animal Liberation Front, said UCLA labs were abusing animals and wasting precious research dollars.

Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T., Executive Director of SAEN, said analysis by scientists found Ringach's research, which brought millions of dollars to UCLA, was "a waste of precious and limited health care and research resources."

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