SAEN Files Complaints Against University of Washington Again

From the normantranscript.com.... An animal-rights group that watchdogs research facilities across the country has filed a federal complaint against the University of Washington, citing multiple incidents in which animals were injured, escaped from their cages or were found dead. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates the care of research animals, will look into the complaint, said agency spokesman David Sacks. It’s too early to say whether any of the incidents violate the Animal Welfare Act, the yardstick for triggering enforcement action, he added.

PETA to Run Billboards Against the University of Washington's Animal Research

I live in Seattle and, while I don't always agree with PETA, I hate the UW's animal research practices. I don't believe these animals get the quality of care they deserve for the suffering they undergo. If you "humanize" the animal and grow attached, how can you conduct experiments on it? You have to objectify them and they suffer for it.

I'm glad PETA is drawing attention to this issue. On the other hand, I hope that the association of PETA with this issue doesn't backfire. They are so polarizing....

Physicians Committee Accuses University of Washington of Cruelty to Ferrets

I live in Seattle and I am always skeptical of how the UW treats its lab animals. I had never heard of the use of ferrets in medical research though. News to me.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine claims these are unnecessary procedures, even though the ferrets are apparently anesthesized during the process.

Full story in the Seattle Times.

A national physicians group has filed a federal complaint against the University of Washington, saying its use of ferrets to train medical residents in emergency procedures on babies and children violates a federal animal-welfare law.

The residents, who are learning to insert breathing tubes in premature infants, practice on anesthetized ferrets, confirmed Dr. Dennis Mayock, a professor of pediatrics and medical director of the UW's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The complaining group, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, based in Washington, D.C., says only about 13 percent of the pediatric-residency programs in the United States use animals for such training.

The UW is "using an educational method that, in our view, is not justifiable," said Dr. John Pippin, a Dallas cardiologist who helped write the complaint....

The UW has been cited in the past for deficiencies in animal research, including allowing a monkey to starve in 2009. In 2008, it had to return $20,000 in federal research grant money after a finding that it had allowed unauthorized surgeries on primates. Inspectors found serious deficiencies in animal-care facilities in 2006 and put the UW on probation.

Since then, however, the UW has spent millions to upgrade animal-care facilities and is now fully accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, hospital spokeswoman Tina Mankowski said.

University of Washington Allows Primate to Starve to Death

I went to graduate school at the University of Washington here in Seattle. I've been hearing nightmare stories about the Primate Center for years. The ineptness and cruelty continues, but all in the name of "putting people first."

Eff that. This is why I avoid Games Night at some acquaintances.' They have a friend that works at this vile place.

From the student newspaper The Daily.

A monkey allowed to starve to death was just one of the complaints noted in a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report on the UW National Primate Research Center in September.

The primate, a 3-and-a-half-year-old pig-tailed macaque, “had been found dead due to malnutrition resulting in a loss of 25 percent of its body weight,” the report said. The death occurred last April.

This incident can be traced to a failure to weigh the animal at regular intervals. The facility requires that primates be weighed at least monthly, but in this case, the macaque hadn’t been weighed for about two months prior to its death, according to the report.

...In addition to the macaque, the USDA took issue with the unsanitary conditions of the animals’ food storage and with the discovery of expired and unlabeled drugs in the facility. They also found two baboons enclosed in a cage that did not allow them to sit upright, due to 2-inch-high implants in their heads.