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dissects Baboon while still alive, federal documents reveal
 For
Immediate Release
Friday, February 8, 2008
San Antonio lab dissects Baboon while still
alive, federal documents reveal
Press Release by Stop Animal Exploitation Now
San Antonio, TX – Friday, February 8,
2008 – A male research Baboon was dissected here —
while he was still alive — according to recently obtained
federal inspection reports of Southwest Foundation for Biomedical
Research (SWFBR) in San Antonio, according to a national watchdog
organization that monitors research laboratories.
Details of the gruesome discovery will be
disclosed at a major news conference here Monday, February
22, at 10:15 a.m. at the St. Anthony Hotel/Coronado Room,
300 East Travis Street.
Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), an Ohio-based
non-profit group, said it is flying its executive director
to the news briefing to outline the 2007 government reports,
which contain more than a dozen violations of the Animal Welfare
Act (AWA) by SWFBR staff. Several of the violations were incurred
in an incident when a male baboon was dissected while still
living.
The USDA chastises SWFBR staff: "Euthanasia
means the humane destruction of an animal accomplished by
a method that produces rapid unconsciousness and subsequent
death without evidence of pain or distress…euthanasia
of one baboon was not accomplished as described above…it
was not dead prior to the start of the necropsy procedure."
"The Southwest Foundation has a blatant
disregard for federal law and animal lives," said Michael
Budkie, A.H.T., SAEN's Executive Director. "This laboratory
should be severely penalized by both the USDA and the NIH."
SAEN and San Antonio-based Wildlife Rescue
& Rehabilitation, Inc., have filed official complaints
against SWFBR with both the U.S. Dept of Agriculture/Animal
& Plant Inspection Service as well as the National Institutes
of Health. The USDA complaint demands immediate enforcement
actions (i.e., fines) against SWFBR, and the NIH complaint
seeks refunding of all grants relevant to the use of the baboon.
"These blatant violations of the AWA
and regulations warrant a thorough investigation and immediate
suspension of these protocols. Penalties should be assessed
and an incident like this should never be allowed to happen
again at any registered facility," said Don Elroy, Advocacy
& Education Coordinator for Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation.
This incident at the Southwest Foundation
for Biomedical Research is the latest in a long series of
incidents at the labs, which make up the National Primate
Research Center System. Harvard was recently issued an official
warning for violations of the AWA, including an incident where
a primate strangulated on a piece of plastic tubing. The University
of California (Davis) was the subject of intense scrutiny
when a former caretaker made allegations of abuse, following
an incident where a heating malfunction killed seven primates.
The University of Wisconsin has been fined for killing marmosets
in a cage washer and has had dozens of AWA violations since.
In 2007, Emory University, home of the Yerkes Primate Center,
paid a USDA fine for serious AWA violations.
Contact Information
Michael Budkie, Executive Director
Phone: (513) 575-5517
Website: www.all-creatures.org/saen/
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