Local biotech company cited for repeated poor animal care

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Please contact Dr. Gibbens and demand that he take immediate action against the Santa Cruz Biotech and confiscate Goat 12438.  This Goat has been lame for over 3 weeks without receiving treatment.  He/She is potentially suffering seriously with an untreated broken leg.

Dr. Robert Gibbens
Director, Western Region
USDA/APHIS/A
2150 Center Avenue
Building B, Mailstop 3W11
Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117
(970) 494-7478
[email protected]

AND

Please contact Santa Cruz Biotech directly and demand that their criminal negligence end, and that they immediately retire Goat 12438 to a sanctuary.
Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.
2145 Delaware Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA. 95060
Toll Free: 1.800.457.3801
Phone: 831.457.3800
Fax: 831.457.3801
e-mail: [email protected]

Customer Service:
5:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. PST
e-mail: [email protected] 
 

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21156746/usda-checks-show-goats-at-santa-cruz-biotech

Local biotech company cited for repeated poor animal care

By Shanna McCord, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Multiple inspections this year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicate goats at Santa Cruz Biotechnology have been kept in poor health - ailments including an untreated broken leg, severe lameness, low body weight and abnormal skin conditions.

One goat died of untreated pneumonia during the inspector's visit on May 2.

An inspector with the USDA cited the Delaware Avenue laboratory during visits in March, April and May. The inspector concluded the biotech company has not provided proper veterinary care and record keeping has been sporadic.

"Inadequate numbers of staff at this facility, including veterinarians, have resulted in animals receiving inadequate medical care and thus experiencing pain and distress," Marcy Rosendale, a USDA veterinary medical officer wrote in the May report.

The March report noted a goat isolated from the herd due to a skin condition and large areas of hair loss.

"The skin appeared crusty with open and scabbed lesions ... and it had received no treatment in the 13 days since the goat had been isolated," Rosendale's March report read. "Additionally, the medical record only stated that the animal was in poor condition and the skin condition was never added to the medical record."

These types of investigations can result in penalties that range from a warning letter to a fine of $10,000 per violation.

Representatives for Santa Cruz Biotechnology could not be reached for comment.

Ohio-based animal rights activist Michael Budkie wrote a letter to the USDA on Wednesday asking for a lame goat to be confiscated from the biotech company.

Budkie, who monitors hundreds of animal research labs across the country as head of Stop Animal Exploitation Now, said Santa Cruz Biotechnology is among the worst in terms of treatment and care of animals.

"This is extremely disturbing because one of the animals cited in April for being lame was in the same state three weeks later. Nothing had been done," Budkie said. "They hadn't even taken an X-ray."

Santa Cruz Biotechnology, an international company with offices in Paso Robles; Sun  Valley, Idaho, and Heidelberg, Germany, sells antibodies to researchers. The local facility employs about 200 people.

According to the USDA, Santa Cruz Biotechnology has approximately 10,000 goats and 6,000 rabbits along with an undetermined number of horses and cattle.

The company has a long record of multiple violations to the Animal Welfare Act.

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service launched an investigation into the company after inspections at the facility twice in 2010 found a dozen sick or injured goats in pain,

In February 2011, 76 sick animals were found at the company. Santa Cruz Biotechnology was cited for noncompliance involving blood collection rules, three repeated citations and one goat that was unable to walk. Medical records for sick animals were found incomplete.

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