FAIRBORN -- The Humane Society says the unintended deaths of mice and frogs used in research is reason for Wright State University to adopt strict rules to avoid animal pain, rules school officials say are already in place.
Kathleen Conlee, Humane Society of the United States director of animal research issues, called for the college to "publicly affirm its commitment to minimizing the suffering of animals in its labs."
discount abercrombieGovernment documents from the U.S. Department of Health and Humane Services show the university violated animal welfare rules to varying degrees during the past seven years. The most serious incidents include a mouse dying after surgery, a rat found alive in a carcass freezer and 40 frogs that died of dehydration.
In a statement, university officials said they take seriously the "responsibilities to serve as proper stewards of all animal use on campus." The school works to adhere to all federal, state and local regulations and is accredited by the Association of Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, which oversees 770 programs, the statement said.
The Humane Society is in the midst of a public campaign to get universities across the nation to adopt policies that prohibit "severe and unrelieved pain and stress" on research animals, Conlee said. Locally, the campaign includes ads in the Wright State campus newspaper "The Guardian."
Six-hundred colleges have been asked to adopt the policy and so far only 55 have agreed. Ohio State University, Miami University and the University of Cincinnati either don't follow the humane society's specific policy or didn't respond to the agency's inquiries.
Government reports of violations also are being used to pressure Northwestern and Virginia Commonwealth universities to adopt the rules.
Tiffany heart tag toggle link necklace The violations at Wright State came to light through a Freedom of Information Act request by the humane society.
Letters from the university show that officials self-report violations, which the school says is part of its protocol, and is something Conlee hopes to see changed. "We don't believe that is the most effective way of oversight."
Humane officials contend that signing the animal suffering policy will help, not hinder, the college's animal research. "If an animal is suffering because of research, that's poor science," Conlee said.
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