OHSU Fined $38K by USDA: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
November 2, 2022

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Pease see the following statement from PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna regarding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) recent settlement with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) for nine serious violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act from February 2018 to February 2022, some at its Oregon National Primate Research Center. Two monkeys died after their cage was put through the wash cycle of a high-temperature automatic cage washer with the animals left inside. A juvenile monkey became trapped under a stainless-steel trough drain cover that workers failed to secure properly and had to be treated for partial paralysis and poor muscle control. Two monkeys fought and required treatment for lacerations and abrasions after experimenters failed to ensure that the panel separating them was properly secured. After experimenters cut into marmosets’ heads and removed a portion of their skulls, two of the monkeys developed infections. The experimenters failed to inform veterinary staff in a timely manner, and the animals had to be euthanized. After a monkey became trapped between two PVC pipes, he was freed but later developed neurological signs of trauma and was euthanized. A monkey sustained an injury to his tail when he was transferred from one enclosure to another, and his tail had to be amputated.

The Oregon National Primate Research Center has shown again and again that it cannot or will not abide by animal protection laws, and the feds should shut it down right now. OHSU should cough up $37,900 in fines over these latest atrocities, including scalding two monkeys to death in a high temperature cage wash, and then get out of the monkey experimentation business. The facts of the case read like the plot of a horror film in which no one is safe and monkeys are tormented and killed one by one. This is on top of dozens of violations stretching back decades. OHSU must modernize its laboratories by replacing cruel and archaic experiments on animals with sophisticated, human-relevant research methods using the strategy proposed in PETA’s Research Modernization Deal. Above all, they must leave the monkeys alone.

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