PROTECT OUR EARTH’S TREASURES
P.O. Box 6619, Columbus, Ohio 43206-0619
Phone 614-224-4598 Cell 614-202-9690
Email PoetWill@sbcglobal.net
website www.poetwill.org
Protest - Monday, April 24th Noon 111 Bricker Hall, 190 North
Oval Mall
OSU Accreditation For Animal Care In Question
Two Chimps are Dead and Independent Investigation Called For
A second chimpanzee, 18-year-old Bobby, from a group of nine shipped by OSU to a highly controversial location in Texas, has been found dead. While at the same time it appears that the international organization that accredits research institutions, AAALAC (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care) has revoked Ohio State University's accreditation.
After conducting a regularly-scheduled audit for OSU's accreditation renewal, AAALAC determined that the animal care and use program fell short of acceptable standards for the humane care and professional treatment of research animals. Losing accreditation suggests that serious problems have developed within the University Laboratory Animal Resources department (ULAR) that have put animals at risk. An email from the chair of OSU's ILACUC (Institutional Laboratory Animal Care and Use Committee) states, “...they (AAALAC) found sufficient items along a recurring nature that they feel we have some systematic problems. They were very concerned that a number of the major issues identified as problems by the site visit team three years ago have not been corrected.”
"Since December 2005, ILACUC has called closed executive sessions at every monthly meeting," says Robin Russell, director of the animal-rights organization P.O.E.T. (Protect Our Earth’s Treasures). “It appears that this committee is attempting to hide the fact that their animal care program is in trouble. To avoid public embarrassment is not an acceptable reason to call an executive session at a public university."
In February 2000, OSU was given “Deferred Continued Accreditation.” According to AAALAC, this status “is awarded in instances where the site visit and peer review reveal serious but correctable deficiencies have developed in a previously Fully Accredited program. Deferred Continued Accreditation is granted to allow time to correct deficiencies while maintaining AAALAC International accreditation.” In March 2003, the University was again given a rating of “Deferred Continued Accreditation.”
One of the consistent complaints from AAALAC is that OSU’s
ILACUC was not properly involved in the review process. The relocation of nine
chimps and three monkeys apparently did not pass through a review. Instead,
the head of ULAR, Dr. William Yonushonis decided, based on the recommendation
of an old friend, Dr. Thomas Butler who, not inconsequently, is the same person
who signed off on the 2000 AAALAC letter granting OSU deferred accreditation,
to move the chimps to the
substandard facility in Texas.
The hasty closing of the internationally acclaimed Chimp Center on February 21, 2006; the ill-planned move of Dr. Sally Boysen’s nine chimpanzees to an unaccredited animal refuge in Texas on February 27, 2006; the tragic death of 26-year-old Kermit while being unloaded from the truck at Primarily Primates on March 2, 2006; and the most recent death of 18-year-old Bobby, on April 20, 2006 also at Primarily Primates, heighten concerns about the adequacy of OSU's animal care program. Added to this is the well-publicized fact that several primate experts warned of potential dangers in moving the Chimp Center animals to the unaccredited refuge, and that those warnings were dismissed or ignored by OSU.
Rob Russell concludes, “With two animals dying in as many months at an unaccredited facility chosen by OSU, coupled with OSU's own AAALAC accreditation hanging by a thread, it is time that an independent investigation be launched before more lives are lost in Texas or Columbus."
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