LSU Animal Experimenters Cited by Feds for Violations: PETA Files Complaint

For Immediate Release:
August 19, 2024

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna regarding three just-posted citations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) against the Louisiana State University System for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. Surveillance video footage revealed that the lead experimenter and others had failed to wear personal protective equipment during a C-section surgery on a pig as well as during recovery and nursing of her preterm piglets. The principal investigator allowed 42 untrained students to participate in the experiment and broke protocol by attempting to intubate premature piglets with oversized equipment. The USDA report noted that “the animals were too small and the ventilation equipment was too big to revive the piglets.” Plus, the lead experimenter’s dog was permitted to wander through the surgical room, “pos[ing] health risks to the sows and their preterm piglets” while also “compromis[ing] research integrity.”

The Louisiana State University (LSU) System tried to hide records about its cruel, deadly experiments on songbirds, and now a federal agency has revealed additional atrocities. Allowing LSU’s animal laboratories to remain open is an endorsement of sloppy science and a celebration of pointless violence. That it’s also on the taxpayers’ tab should be criminal.

 PETA has submitted a complaint to the National Institutes of Health, strongly urging the agency to pull its funding and shut down the university’s laboratories, which wasted nearly $26 million in tax money in 2023 alone.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.