Feds Cite Virginia Tech for Another Critical Violation of the Animal Welfare Act
For Immediate Release:
October 3, 2024
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding a just-posted U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection report citing Virginia Tech for a critical violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act. On August 28, inspectors found that an experimenter had failed to notify a veterinarian about two Venezuelan fruit bats who “appeared very weak and lethargic” upon arrival. The two bats were found dead 12 hours later. A third one died during shipping. These bats, along with 100 others, were shipped to the university from Colorado.
Less than six months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture assessed Virginia Tech a historic fine of $18,950 for its repeated failures to comply with the meager requirements of the federal Animal Welfare Act, the university has done it again. This is Tech’s 19th violation of the act in less than five years. Virginians have the right to expect that a publicly funded institution with an annual budget of more than $2 billion won’t leave animals to suffer or die without adequate food, water, shelter, or veterinary care, as Virginia Tech has. Any civilian who deprived an animal of adequate care required by law—as the university has repeatedly done in recent years—would be charged with cruelty to animals.
Background
Virginia Tech was implicated in the Envigo scandal as early as 2020, when it opposed legislation to restrict the breeding and sales of dogs and cats for testing. (The bill died.) Tech eventually stopped purchasing dogs from Envigo but only after a great deal of pressure and publicity. The university also lobbied against bills introduced during Virginia’s 2023 General Assembly session that would have implemented penalties and fines for critical violations as well as increased transparency by requiring annual census reports of all animals used in experiments. Bills introduced in 2024 led to the creation of a task force to identify deficiencies and make recommendations to increase transparency at publicly funded animal testing facilities in Virginia. The task force has met three times, and its report is due by November 1. Virginia Tech has been one of the most vocal opponents of proposed recommendations that publicly funded institutions report the number of animals held and used for experiments to the state on an annual basis.
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.
