An eight-month undercover investigation by a leading US animal rights group has documented alleged mistreatment of animals inside two University of Utah facilities.
Officials from the Virginia-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which opposes all research with animals as well as their use in food and clothing, said they will file formal complaints to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the group’s undercover agent, who worked as an animal support technician at the Salt Lake City University from 12 February to 29 October, gathered videos and photos that PETA says violate the federal Animal Welfare Act.
University officials defended the lab’s practices, arguing that the PETA investigator does not understand routine procedures in animal research. “None of the things she alleges are substantive,” said Tom Parks, the University of Utah’s vice president for research. “It’s a remarkably banal list of ordinary events in an animal-care facility.” (Salt Lake Tribune)
The alleged cruelties that the PETA investigator observed, according to a PETA press release, include purposely paralyzing mice, drilling holes in monkey skulls, injecting chemicals into kitten brains, and giving rats epileptic seizures.
You can watch some of the undercover footage below the jump: