For immediate release:
August 17, 2021
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Madison, Wisconsin. PETA today filed a formal complaint with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), urging it to investigate the University of Wisconsin-Madison for violations of federal animal welfare laws, repeatedly since January when handling monkeys in their laboratories. PETA found violations by requesting the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Disorders include administering 1000 times the prescribed dose of an antidepressant to a monkey and overdosing another monkey with an experimental compound that caused multiple organ failure and death. On several occasions, the monkeys escaped from their cages and were seriously injured as a result of the negligence of the workers. The experimenters also failed to provide monkeys with adequate pain relief after invasive experimental operations.
“UW-Madison’s negligent mistakes represent a dangerous lack of preparation, control and knowledge,” says PETA Senior Vice President Katy Guillermo. PETA is urging the USDA to investigate and take action to prevent soulless experimenters from harming even another animal.
PETA FOIA requests to the NIH identified 69 violations of federal animal welfare guidelines at UW-Madison labs between April 2018 and May 2021. Among other incidents, UW-Madison employees allowed the mice to starve to death and were unable to provide water to the monkeys for three years. Over the weekend, the mice who survived the gas-killing attempt were placed in a freezer, treated with the wrong monkey together for 19 days, and the monkey’s broken leg was amputated without knowing the cause of the injury.
The violations follow a secret PETA investigation at the University of Wisconsin’s National Primate Research Center, the results of which were released last September. Videos and photographs show highly intelligent primates who were denied the ability to satisfy their most basic needs, treated them with cruelty and contempt, and drove them crazy with extreme, almost permanent, prolonged imprisonment. Some of them have survived this for over two decades.
PETA, whose motto is in part that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – opposes arrogance, a worldview focused on human excellence. For more information please visit PETA.org or subscribe to the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram…