UF research program under scrutiny

The University of Florida’s animal testing program is under scrutiny by an animal rights group and the U.S. Department of Agriculture after being issued a number of citations, including one regarded as critical that said the university subjected cats to unnecessary pain and suffering.

The government’s critical citation was issued on July 28, 2020, after determining that four cats who were undergoing bone marrow surgery didn’t receive the proper anesthetic and had to be euthanized.

Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! also accused the UF program of twice accidentally setting rats on fire during surgery, subjecting a rat to increased pain and distress while undergoing traumatic brain injury research, and accidentally boiling two live rats that were still inside a cage while it was being sterilized. Because mice and rats aren’t protected under the Animal Welfare Act, the agriculture department did not investigate those deaths.

The university was also cited by the Agriculture Department on July 28 for not reporting it suspended two experiments on sheep over a failure to adhere to approved surgical technique and pain-reduction procedures as well as proper sanitation. Those were corrected soon afterward.

Michael Budkie, director of Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!, said critical noncompliances are only issued in about 2% of research facilities inspected by the government, something he said puts the University of Florida in “bad company.”

Budkie said his group collects information on about 1,000 labs per year and there are only 35 to 40 protocol suspensions annually.

He said UF’s issues are egregious.

“We certainly don’t see many laboratories where animals are accidentally set on fire and/or run through cage washers,” Budkie said.