ACTION ALERT:
Contact:
Dr. Robert Gibbens
Director, Western Region, USDA
(970) 494-7478
[email protected]
[email protected]
SAMPLE MESSAGE:
Please levy the MAXIMUM FINE against Oregon Health & Science University for
their blatant disregard of the Animal Welfare Act when their negligence
killed two monkeys in a cage-washing machine. Their behavior should NOT be
tolerated and MUST be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Animal rights group files federal complaint over deaths of 2 monkeys at primate center
From OregonLive.com, September 2, 2020
The accidental deaths of two more monkeys at an Oregon Health & Science
University-operated research facility in Hillsboro has prompted an animal
rights group to file a federal complaint.
On Aug. 13, an animal care technician at the Oregon National Primate
Research Center placed a 6-foot-tall rack of monkey cages into a
cage-washing machine and turned it on without realizing there were still two
monkeys locked in one of the top cages, OHSU said in a statement Aug. 28.
“The technician quickly realized the error and immediately called veterinary
staff for help, but one monkey died and the second was later humanely
euthanized,” read OHSU’s statement. “All cage washing immediately ceased and
the director of animal care and use, Vickie Jarrell, Ph.D., was notified.”
Jarrell reported the deaths of the adult rhesus macaques to two federal
regulatory agencies overseeing animal research as soon as she learned of the
incident, according to the OHSU statement titled “OHSU grieves loss of two
nonhuman primates.” She also contacted an international organization that
offers voluntary accreditation for animal research programs.
The incident has drawn the ire of the Ohio-based animal rights advocacy
group Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!, which filed a complaint Aug. 30 with
the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s division overseeing animal welfare.
“(This) device sterilizes with heat, meaning these monkeys were boiled
alive,” the group said in a statement, referring to the cage-washing machine
where the monkeys were killed.
The incident violates the Animal Welfare Act, of which OHSU has been cited
in violation 19 times in the last four years, according to the complaint.
OHSU chief research officer Peter Barr-Gillespie plans to establish “an
independent, external review committee to more broadly examine hiring,
training, safety and operations in animal care” at the research center, OHSU
said.
The university’s institutional animal care and use committee is also
conducting an internal investigation, which will take several weeks to
complete, OHSU said.
In the complaint, SAEN also highlighted an OHSU report discussing an
incident this January in which a monkey was injured after becoming trapped
in a drain opening, left uncovered by OHSU staff.
The Primate Research Center houses nearly 5,000 monkeys, many of which are
part of a breeding colony that supports National Institutes of Health-funded
research on human and animal health, including research into potential
vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, OHSU said.