More Animals Die Because of Negligence at Ohio State University
A recent power outage at Ohio State University in mid-July resulted
in the deaths of almost 700 animals, including mice, rats, and
rabbits. A backup generator failed to provide air conditioning,
and temperatures in the laboratories rose to over 105 degrees for
several hours.
PCRM has
asked the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate OSU’s
failure to comply with the Health Research Extension Act of 1985.
The law requires facilities receiving NIH funding to provide proper
care for their animals. During the power outage, not only was there
no backup generator to provide light and air conditioning during
the peak of summer, but in some places, the heat was actually switched
on. There was no system in place to alert any authority about the
risks to the animals.
OSU has long been criticized for its treatment
of animals. The university recently sent its retired colony of
cognitive research chimpanzees and monkeys to a facility in San
Antonio, without ensuring that the facility was capable of caring
for them. Five chimps at the facility have died since March, including
two from OSU.
The school
has also become infamous for “Cruelty 101,” an OSU
summer course in which students cause severe spinal cord injury
in small animals. Weights are dropped onto the exposed spinal cords
of rats and mice, who are then required to perform physical tasks
such as swimming or running. Nearly 300 animals are used each year
in the three-week course. OSU also was the site of controversial
experiments in which cats were infected with viruses and then given
methamphetamine.
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