Animal Experimenter Forced to Resign After PETA Exposé

September 2014

Following a PETA exposé of mistreatment of animals in the laboratories of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Charles Rupprecht, an animal experimenter formerly at CDC, was forced to resign from Ross University, where he was Associate Dean in charge of oversight of experimentation on animals. Through a review of internal agency records, PETA discovered that when Rupprecht had served as chief of the CDC’s rabies program, he knowingly injected monkeys with a dangerous strain of rabies that the handlers were not inoculated against—and failed to inform the staff. He was responsible for at least nine violations of federal animal welfare regulations from 2007 to 2012, including incidents in which animals were infected with rabies, but not monitored. Two monkeys were even found dead in their cages after they were infected with viruses. As a result, Rupprecht was permanently banned from access to all CDC animal laboratories and resigned before being hired by Ross.