The University of Alaska is the latest in a string of colleges to be targeted by the USDA for disturbing animal welfare issues -- this one for the starvation deaths of 12 musk oxen at the school's research station. According to the AP:
The university failed to provide adequate veterinary care, identify that the musk oxen were losing weight or enlist veterinary treatment for the animals, the agency's complaint says. It says the animals died or were euthanized between Aug. 29, 2010, and Feb. 16, 2011. The musk oxen deaths represented the biggest die-off of the school's herd since it was established more than 30 years ago.
The fines, which follow a request by the animal rights group Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) to investigate the school, could total as much as $10,000 per animal.
A spokesperson for the university maintains that major changes have been made at the research station since the incident. But Michael Budkie, SAEN's executive director, said he was glad that the USDA was taking action.
"We hope that the University of Alaska Fairbanks receives the maximum allowable penalty under the law for starving a dozen musk oxen," he said. "What a horrible way to die."
Alaska joins several other big-name universities that have been cited for animal welfare issues, as The Dodo reported last month, when the University of Michigan came under fire:
Michigan joins a growing list of universities, the most recent of which was UC Berkeley, which was fined$8,750 last month for allowing five lab animals to die of thirst in 2011. In December, Harvard was slapped with $24,000 fine for 11 violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including four involving the death of an animal. At Emory University, a July 2012 USDA report revealed that an employee killed a rhesus macaque monkey by giving him the incorrect compound, while the University of Louisiana Lafayette was fined $38,571 for a group of animal welfare violations in 2013.
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