ACTION ALERT:
Contact the USDA to Demand another Federal Fine against OU:
Dr. Robert Gibbens
Director, Western Region, USDA
[email protected]
[email protected]
SAMPLE MESSAGE:
Thank you for levying a $19,143 fine against the University of Oklahoma. However, serious federal violations at this facility have continued. So, please LEVY another Fine against Univ. of Oklahoma for their blatant disregard of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) when their negligence killed a dog and 5 guinea pigs. This repeat offender's behavior must NOT be tolerated and MUST be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
OU fined thousands after federal
violations, abuse of animals
By
Rachel Goodwin,
KTUL.com, January 22, 2016
OKLAHOMA CITY - According to documents obtained by a national research
watchdog group, The University of Oklahoma has been fined $19,143 for
violating the federal Animal Welfare Act.
OU's violations, leading to the abuse of animals within its research
program, were learned of by Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! [SAEN], a
nonprofit organization that monitors U.S. research facilities . The
organization said they learned about OU's violations when they were cited by
the United States Department of
Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service [APHIS/AC]
division in 2014-early 2015.
The violations include inadequate veterinary care, failure to follow
research protocols and failure to administer pain relief in connection to
surgical procedures and failure to observe animals adequately.
Some of the incidents involved the hosing down of baby baboons, guinea pigs
who bled to death, failure to monitor baboons during surgical procedures and
failure to provide environmental enhancement to a psychologically stressed
primate.
According to SAEN, further alleged incidents involved the death of a dog.
"This significant fine signals that the USDA is taking OU's federal
violations very seriously and will not allow continued illegal activity by
OU research staff to go unpunished," said Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T.,
Executive Director, SAEN. "I expect that this may well be the first of
several federal fines against OU."
SAEN also revealed only two guinea pig deaths were originally reported to OU
administration with "details that revealed participation in the experiment
by unapproved personnel, use of unapproved drugs, unapproved animal housing
and unapproved methods used for administration of the test substance."
Administrators with OU later discovered three additional guinea pigs deaths
and other violations.
"The incidents disclosed in the USDA fine, when taken together with more
recent information, substantiate that OU's entire animal research program is
damaged beyond repair," added Budkie.
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