The Animal Welfare Act requires laboratories to provide adequate food, water and medical care to their subjects, but Will Lowrey – an attorney with the non-profit Animal Partisan – says that law doesn’t cover most of the critters used in research.
“Mice or rats or birds or even cold-blooded animals are not included in the protections of the Animal Welfare Act, and some estimates say those animals amount to about 95-98% of all the animals used.”
And, he says, the USDA – which is supposed to enforce the law – doesn’t do a very good job.
“USDA never wanted to be the enforcement body for this legislation. I mean the USDA is the Department of Agriculture. It’s somewhat of an unnatural fit when it comes to regulation of animal research facilities, and then you look at the current staffing, and there are over a thousand research facilities, and a very small number of inspectors.”
So his group and other animal activists are asking Virginia’s legislature to require laboratories to share details about their animal care practices with the public.
“Every one of those animals is an individual, sentient being that has feelings and suffers and experiences pain. These are people and institutions using taxpayer funds, so if people don’t know what the institutions in their backyard or community are doing, then they can’t rightfully participate in that."
A task force on this topic will meet Friday before making recommendations to the General Assembly.
