PETA Accuses CU-Denver Labs Of Animal Abuse Again

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has accused University of Colorado Denver laboratories of animal-welfare violations again -- violations that PETA says are similar to the complaint the group filed against the university in 2007. PETA is seeking fines and revocation of federal grants awarded to CU-Denver, 7News reports.

However, Jacque Montgomery, a CU spokesperson, told The Denver Post that the problems PETA had reported earlier have been addressed and properly reported to oversight committees or government agencies. Scientists at the Anschutz labs say that although animal experiments continue, they are necessary to research and have worked to minimize animal abuse.

However, PETA claims that since 2010 at least 60 animal welfare incidents have occurred and dozens of those may constitute violations of federal law and guidelines. PETA lists the following examples on their website:

• A worker broke a rabbit's back as the rabbit struggled against the worker's restraint. The paralyzed animal was still used in an experiment before she was finally killed.
• Experimenters induced cancer in animals and then ineptly cut off the resulting tumors, leaving the animals -- who were given no pain relief -- with large, gaping wounds.
• Live mice and rats were found in a freezer where dead animals were discarded.
• Twenty guinea pigs died or were killed after a worker injected them with an antibiotic intended for rats.
• A careless employee threw a box of live animals into the trash, leaving the animals to die slowly.

In 2007, PETA received information from a CU-Denver veterinary technician who turned whistleblower when he felt that his charges of university lab neglect and mistreatment of animals were not properly addressed by officials, according to PETA.org.