For immediate release:
September 1, 2021
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Blacksburg, Virginia. – Below you will find a statement by Kathy Guillermo, senior vice president of laboratory research at PETA, regarding the official warning from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Technological University) of the USDA on violations of federal animal welfare regulations. …
Virginia Institute of Technology makes millions of dollars in animal experiments, but cannot comply with minimum animal welfare guidelines. The just-published report received by PETA shows that the school received an official warning from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) about one of six federal animal welfare violations discovered in June. Among other incidents, the experimenters inflicted head injuries on six miniature pigs, although the experiment protocol was not properly reviewed by the school’s animal supervisory authority. According to the USDA, “the first pig used died during the procedure and blood was found in the endotracheal tube,” but the experimenters incompetently continued to subject the pigs to this procedure, making numerous mistakes as the pigs continued to die. Only two out of six pigs survived the mediocrity of the experimenters, and the survivors “showed abnormal neurological signs. [including] ataxia (impaired coordination of movements), weakness in all four limbs, and mild to moderate mental depression. One pig was shaking. ” On another occasion, a cow suffered from heat stress and found it difficult to stand because she did not have direct access to the shade. Virginia Institute of Technology must redirect its resources to modern, animal-free research methodologies that will truly help people, and we urge local officials to pass the PETA Research Modernization Agreement.
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