URGENT NEWS ADVISORY
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Contact: Michael Budkie, SAEN, 513-575-5517; 513-703-9865 (cell)
ATTN: News Desk
Watchdog files federal complaint against UC Davis, recommends
halt in research after discovery of undiagnosed, self-inflicted
animal injuries
Davis, CA - A National Research Watchdog Organization based in
Ohio has accused the University of California, Davis of negligence
and has demanded a federal investigation into the deaths of seven
primates following undiagnosed, self-inflicted traumatic injuries.
Internal UC Davis records - obtained by SAEN, a national research
watchdog group that monitors labs like those at UCD - reveal that
many primates on the campus are suffering from serious illnesses and
injuries, including broken bones, starvation, dehydration and
amputations.
"It is clear that the staff (of UC Davis) systematically ignores
injuries in primates allowing them to be diagnosed only at death. I
request you initiate action to levy the most substantial fine
allowable (and) suspend projects which involve repeat violations,"
said Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T., Executive Director, SAEN in a letter
(available upon request) to Dr. Robert Gibbens, Director of the
Western Region of the USDA/APHIS in Ft. Collins, Co.
"I find the attitude of callousness and negligence at (UC Davis)
to be nothing less than shocking," added Budkie in his letter.
Budkie said he filed the complaint because "UC Davis is ignoring
these primates and allowing them to literally self-destruct.
University documents reveal many of these animals have inflicted
traumatic injuries on themselves that were never noticed."
Postmortems for 404 primates show 117 diagnosis of colitis, and
inanition – a bodily condition resembling starvation – was diagnosed
108 times. Dehydration is noted 91 times. Treatment records for
these animals disclose 403 instances of traumatic injuries,
including 143 amputations .There were 387 wounds, 221 bites, 70
abrasions, and 40 fractures.
"These animals endure a lifetime of suffering which often leads
to madness. Their only escape is in death. In many instances the
postmortems reveal conditions which were not only untreated, but
negligently unnoticed when they were alive in the labs," added
Budkie.
SAEN cited specific animals – known only as Primate 27432 and
Primate 34975 in the records – as enduring serious self-inflicted
injuries without apparent care until they died.
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