An animal rights group which has the goal of banning medical research on animals has accused the University of Rochester of killing or mistreating animals in its Medical Center labs.
Stop Animal Exploitation Now monitors U.S. animal research facilities. It claims it found animal abuse and animal deaths at UR Medical Center labs, possibly involving more than 100 animals. It also says researchers failed to give pain relief to some 80 experimental animals.
The University of Rochester Medical Center says mistakes were made in caring for research animals. It says in a statement the group is sensationalizing the errors and not acknowledging that safeguards were put in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
The animal welfare group says it learned of the animal deaths through internal university correspondence. It did not give details except to say they reportedly took place in 2016 and 2017.
The University says in a written statement that the animal group is referring to three incidents in which it discovered mice had mistakenly been mistreated. It says that was unacceptable to the university. It says research teams immediately cared for the affected animals and notified the UR’s voluntary monitoring committee which checks on animal research at the university.