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Group says UCD center mistreats monkeys
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg - Bee Staff Writer An animal rights group has filed a complaint with
federal regulators against UC Davis' primate lab, alleging animals are
underfed, poorly cared for and sometimes handled too roughly. Dallas Hyde, director of the California National Primate Research
Center, described many of the allegations as "just downright false" An Ohio-based group called Stop Animal Exploitation Now e-mailed its
complaint Wednesday evening to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asking for an
official investigation. The group reviewed close to 600 postmortem exams, called necropsies,
of monkeys at the primate center over three years and concluded that at
least a third of the adults were emaciated, dehydrated or showed other
symptoms of stress and poor care, founder Michael Budkie said. In addition, it relied on information from Cheri Stevens, a former
lab worker who said animals frequently mauled each other in fights and
didn't get enough fruits and vegetables during the three years before
she quit in 2005. Jenny Short, an assistant director at the center, said monkeys do
commonly lose a fingertip in fights, but they're such social creatures
that overall, they're still better off housed in groups than alone. Fruits and vegetables are rationed, Short added, because otherwise
monkeys would fill up on them and spurn their chow, which has protein,
fats and minerals the animals need. Stevens' allegations disappointed and angered primate center
staffers, Hyde said, adding that vets at the center work hard to ensure
the animals stay healthy. Founded in the 1960s, UC Davis' primate center houses about 5,000
animals, most of them cat-sized rhesus macaque, and the rest two smaller
and longer-tailed species, the cynomolgus macaque and the titi monkey.
They're used to study asthma, Parkinson's disease, AIDS, stem cell
biology and a wide range of other biological processes ranging from
behavior to vaccine response. The center's primates were among those used in testing a drug, now
undergoing clinical trials, aimed at preventing mothers with AIDS from
spreading it to their babies, Hyde said. He could remember just two other complaints about UC Davis' primate
handling in the past six years, both in 2004. As he recalled, one alleging inadequate veterinary care was found to
be baseless, but the other resulted in a fine after seven monkeys died
from overheating caused by a ventilator failure. In late 2005, the university announced it was paying the fine of While the USDA oversees hundreds of labs, its Western region received
only 12 public complaints about research facilities in fiscal 2006,
agency spokesman Jim Rogers said. He wasn't immediately able to give specifics. In general, the agency's follow-up to complaints can involve anything
from a phone call to a formal investigation, Rogers said. |
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