Group complains to feds about Battelle guinea pig deaths

Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!
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Please contact the Director of the USDA’s Eastern Regional Office to insist that she take immediate action against the Battelle Memorial Institute for negligence that drown one guinea pig and cooked another to death. The USDA MUST issue a fine!
 
Dr. Elizabeth Goldentyer USDA/APHIS/AC
920 Main Campus Drive, Suite 2000
Raleigh, NC27606
(919) 855-7100
[email protected]

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/09/16/Battelle-animal-abuse-complaint.html

Group complains to feds about Battelle guinea pig deaths

By Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Diospatch, Monday, September 16, 2013

An animal watchdog group has filed a complaint with federal officials after one guinea pig was “ cooked to death” and another drowned at the Battelle Biomedical Research Center in Columbus.
 
Stop Animal Exploitation Now is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fine Battelle for violating the Animal Welfare Act in its “negligent” handling of research animals by “ unqualified staff.”
 
A USDA inspection report shows that a guinea pig drowned on Aug. 29 after a leaking watering system flooded its enclosure and that another died on Dec. 3 after it was left in a cage that was steam cleaned.
 
“They are so negligent that they can’t even get animals out of a cage before they sterilize it. It makes us wonder what else is going on,” said Michael Budkie, executive director of the Milford, Ohio-based Stop Animal Exploitation Now.
 
Battelle could be fined $10,000 each for the guinea pig deaths and up to $40,000 for using workers unqualified to care for animals, Budkie said.
 
Battelle reported the animal deaths and procedures were changed to prevent similar mistreatment of animals, the USDA report said. “These items have been adequately addressed by the facility,” the federal inspector wrote.
 
Battelle spokeswoman Katy Delaney objected to Stop Animal Exploitation Now's "inflammatory langauge and their ability to judge whether staff are adequately trained." The "unintended deaths" were thoroughly investigated and "corrective actions put in place," she said.
 
Federal records show that Battelle, which conducts research under contracts with the federal government, uses guinea pigs in research involving neurotoxins and “classified compounds.”
 
Records show the Battelle Biomedical Research Institute last year used nearly 6,900 federally protected research animals, including 2,422 guinea pigs, 652 monkeys, 157 pigs, 150 dogs and 12 cats.
 
Stop Animal Exploitation Now earlier this year filed a complaint against Ohio State University after it was cited for 10 animal-care violations during a USDA inspection. The complaint has not been resolved, Budkie said. Ohio State officials said the problems have been fixed. 

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