Violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) at Northwestern University:

 

*August 2013 - Four mice died of dehydration when they had no access to water.  Others were noted to have shortened tails with tip necrosis.  Their watering system was not working, the employee failed to report the health concerns and the employee signed off on the room sheets that tasks had been completed when they had not.

 

*December 2012 - Animals were left unattended in a euthanasia chamber in Ming Zhang’s laboratory.  This resulted in protocol suspension of all animal work in his lab.  This was just the latest in a series of continuing noncompliance by Zhang dating back to at least 2010.  This is the third time the committee has suspended the animal research of Ming Zhang.

 

*September 2012 - A rabbit died after not being monitored during recovery.  The individual responsible also failed to record the death in the electronic medical record system.

 

*June 2012 - A wound healing study was performed on mice at 14 days of age, which was too young.  The unapproved use of a depilatory agent resulted in trauma to four mice and caused one mother to eat another pup.  Nair was used to remove the hair.  The four mice had to be euthanized. A total of fourteen pups underwent the procedure.

 

*February 2012 - Current lab manager, considered to be the source of most of the problems, may not work with animals and her name must be removed from all protocols.  Additionally, the lab manager may not work on animals at any other lab at Northwestern University.

 

*January 2012 - Nine mice died and seven more had to be euthanized when no water was available to the animals.  A rack with 34 cages was not properly connected for one to two days.

 

*December 2011 - A lab member was discovered taking an animal to a lab space to be euthanized.  The lab space was not approved for animal use and the lab member used an unapproved method for euthanasia. 

 

*November 201l - Three mice died after failing to recover from an unapproved anesthetic procedure.  The procedure, use of lsoflurane, delivery method and the person performing the procedure were not approved on that protocol.  A total of one hundred and twenty eight mice had undergone the procedure.

 

*September 2011 - A rabbit suffered a skin lesion after being injected with an agent by an unapproved route.  Another rabbit had been injected intravenously with the agent and died.

 

*September 2011 - Four mice died when an employee left a cage on a hot plate after the animals had undergone surgery.  The animals were literally cooked to death.

 

*September 2011 - A cage was found containing 3 mice with obvious injuries to their left eyes and a considerable amount of blood.  Another noncompliance concerning mice which had been retro-orbitally bled, which was not approved.

 

*June 2011 - Lab failed to transfer a cat to the correct protocol and thus performed an acute terminal procedure using an unapproved anesthetic.  This lab had a similar violation in October 2010.

 

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP THE ANIMALS IN NORTHWESTERN’S LABORATORIES:

 

• Please contact Dr. Elizabeth Goldentyer and ask her to investigate Northwestern and their violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).  Please ask her to issue the maximum penalty for each violation, a fine of up to $10,000 per infraction, potentially totaling $60,000. 

 

Dr. Elizabeth Goldentyer

Director, Eastern Region, USDA/APHIS/AC

920 Main Campus Drive, Suite 2000

Raleigh, NC 27606

(919) 855-7100

Betty.J.Goldentyer@usda.gov 

 

• Are you a Northwestern student?  Find out what outdated animal experiments are being conducted on your campus, educate others and encourage them to get involved with CFES.

 

• Are you a Northwestern alumnus?  If so, please contact university officials and explain that you will not donate as long as they continue to test on animals or fund animal experimentation.

 

• Contact us!  Get involved, attend educational demonstrations, ‘like’ us on Facebook, share news articles exposing numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act and the outrageous funding to these experimenters with your tax dollars, volunteer, donate and learn how you can help make a difference for animals suffering silently behind laboratory doors.