University of Tennessee–Knoxville Lab Staff’s Negligence and Incompetence Kill 6 Animals; PETA Files Complaint

For Immediate Release:
July 20, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna regarding the citations just posted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture against the University of Tennessee–Knoxville for its critical violations of federal animal welfare regulations:

The incompetent laboratory staff at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville have added six animal bodies to the school’s mounting pile of corpses, proving that the university doesn’t deserve another red cent of taxpayer money. PETA has filed a complaint with the National Institutes of Health, calling on the agency to turn off the money spigot to the school.

Federal inspectors cited the university for critical violations of animal welfare regulations because an ill-equipped experimenter improperly administered a high dose of a drug to 12 hamsters, killing four of them. Two goats dropped dead from unchecked parasite infections, and staffers simply forgot about a pregnant horse until she was about to give birth, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

The University of Tennessee–Knoxville should redirect its resources toward modern, non-animal research methods that will actually help humans, and we urge officials there to adopt PETA’s Research Modernization Deal.

For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.