After Recent Violations, PETA Files NIH Complaint Against the University of Vermont

For Immediate Release:
September 13, 2022

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna regarding the University of Vermont’s recent violations of animal welfare regulations:

Staff at the University of Vermont (UVM) were so careless, inept, and callous that the school was cited for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act. Employees continued an experimental surgery on a sheep, even after it was clear that the ventilator used during the procedure wasn’t working properly—resulting in the animal’s death on the operating table from lack of oxygen. In a shameful turn, the university appealed the citation with an elaborate song and dance—but the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected the appeal.

UVM received nearly $60 million in taxpayer money from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) last year—but such largesse brings with it a legal expectation that the university will comply with minimum animal welfare laws. PETA has filed a complaint with NIH, calling on it to turn off the money spigot to the school. The university must modernize its research program by leaving cruel and archaic experiments on animals behind and using only sophisticated, human-relevant research methods instead.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.