PETA Calls for Federal Investigation of Cat Death at UConn Lab

[Guest guest]

PETA Calls for Federal Investigation of Cat Death at UConn Lab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whistleblower Reports That Cat Died After Having Holes Drilled in Skull

For Immediate Release:April 9, 2008

Contact:Justin Goodman 757-622-7382

Storrs, Conn. -

PETA has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to immediately

investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a cat inside a

University of Connecticut-Storrs laboratory following a whistleblower's

report that the cat bled to death after experimenters drilled holes in

the animal's skull.

Reportedly, UConn animal experimenters Monty Escabi and Heather Read received a federal grant--$1.3 million of taxpayers' money--to

perform brain experiments on cats through 2009. The experimental

protocol calls for paralyzing the cats with drugs, cutting holes in

their throats to insert a breathing tube, drilling into their skulls,

and removing a portion of their brains. Experimenters then immobilize

the cats in restraint devices, attach electrodes to their brains, and

place the animals in soundproof chambers. Auditory tests are then

performed on the cats for up to four days straight, after which the

cats are killed.

In 2006, the USDA cited Escabi and Read's laboratory

for failing to properly monitor the health of a cat who was being used

in this experiment.

PETA is also asking the USDA to investigate why--given the wide availability of human clinical research methods to study the brain activity of humans, down to a single neuron--the

experimenters are still using animals in their research and why the

UConn Health Center is still using cats and rabbits in certain medical

training courses.

UConn and the University of Connecticut Health

Center (UCHC) have been cited previously by the USDA for failing to

pursue non-animal alternatives, and recently--following a PETA complaint--an

experimenter at UCHC was ordered to return part of the federal grant

that he received after violating federal animal protection laws more

than 20 times in his primate laboratory. In 2001, UConn-Storrs paid the

USDA $129,000 in fines for 99 violations of animal welfare laws.

"These experimenters would go to jail on felony

cruelty-to-animals charges if this violence occurred outside a

laboratory," says PETA Director of Research Kathy Guillermo. "This

cat's life and death show a callous disregard for animals and the law

at UConn."

PETA's complaint to the USDA is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA's Web site StopAnimalTests.com.