Freeze injured scores of researchers’ baboons
SAN ANTONIO — More than 150 baboons kept at a San Antonio medical research facility had fingers, toes or tails amputated after suffering frostbite during the February freeze, despite power generators and supplemental heat intended to protect the animals.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture investigate the Texas Biomedical Research Institute after learning that 159 baboons — about 15 percent of the institute’s baboon colony — were injured when the record winter storm collapsed the state’s power grid.
The institute said it made every effort to respond to “an extreme meteorological event that stressed the entire state of Texas.”
The animals have access to indoor and outdoor housing and were indoors during the storm, said Lisa Cruz, Texas Biomed’s vice president of communications.
“Texas Biomed, along with other animal care facilities, were focused on the health and safety of animals and team members,” Cruz said. “The institute has a long history of providing exceptional care for our research animals.”
Animals at the research facility played a key role in testing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to ensure it was safe for humans. Texas Biomed officials have said their work over the years has led to medical advances including a neonatal high-frequency ventilator and medications to treat diabetes and high blood pressure.
More than 50 staff members slept at the facility overnight throughout the week of the storm, providing 24-hour observation and care of the animals, according to Cruz. The institute’s 2,500-primate colony includes marmosets, macaques and chimpanzees, as well as baboons.
Texas Biomed has backup generators that were used to power heaters “for protecting the overall health of the animals,” Cruz said.
“In some cases, the extreme ground temperature caused frostbite to extremities. It is important to note that no mortality was suffered by any of the institute’s animals despite this oncein-a-century weather event,” Cruz said.
“This was due to the diligent work of our staff, many of whom worked around the clock in trying weather conditions to ensure the well-being of the animals,” she said.
The institute, located on the far West Side, reported the animals’ injuries to the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare. It also provided “immediate and exceptional veterinary care to mitigate further injury,” Cruz said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determined that the institute’s efforts were “consistent with regulatory philosophy … and actions taken to resolve the issue were appropriate,” Cruz said.
“The department did not find any need for further action,” she said.
PETA, however, asserted that the animals had been treated cruelly.
In a letter to the USDA, the animal rights organization said that for highly tactile primates such as baboons, “one of the few pleasures for those of them confined at (Texas Biomed) is exercising their ability to pluck blades of grass, manipulate food items and engage in grooming.”
“Leaving baboons to freeze during a catastrophic, recordbreaking storm constitutes neglect and cruelty,” said Dr. Alka Chandna, PETA’s vice president for laboratory investigations. “PETA urges federal agents to investigate and prosecute this federally funded disaster.”
Primarily Primates, a North Bexar County animal sanctuary, lost at least 12 animals during the extended freeze, including a chimpanzee, numerous monkeys, lemurs and tropical birds.
In previous years, the USDA has fined Texas Biomed after primates escaped from the property or people or animals were injured there. PETA contends that primates at the facility are “subjected to painful procedures and invasive surgeries” and are sometimes denied pain relief.
A routine USDA inspection report from May listed one issue at the facility: Paint was peeling from several cinder block walls at two buildings, making it difficult to keep them sanitized. The concern was labeled “noncritical,” and Texas Biomed has until September to correct it.
Texas Biomed is an independent, nonprofit infectious disease research facility funded through the National Institutes of Health, donations and contracts with private bioscience companies. The organization reports more than $60 million in annual revenue and employs about 365 people on its 200-acre property.
The facility, which has an 80year history in San Antonio, partners with researchers and institutions around the world to develop vaccines and treatments for viral pathogens that cause COVID-19, AIDS, hepatitis, hemorrhagic fever, tuberculosis, and parasitic diseases responsible for malaria and schistosomiasis.