Four state senators say they are “deeply troubled” by the recent number of Animal Welfare Act violations at some state universities.
In a joint statement Friday, Republican Bill Stanley and Democrats Creigh Deeds, Jennifer Boysko and Chap Petersen said they’re planning to push for greater accountability from animal testing facilities during next year’s legislative session.
“(We) intend to introduce legislation in the 2024 General Assembly Session that will require annual reports on the number, species, and disposition of animals in our public universities’ laboratories and reduce/eliminate violations of existing federal law by putting in place meaningful consequences for repeat violators,” they wrote.
A document accompanying the release states the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University and Eastern Virginia Medical School for a combined 24 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act since January 2021. The violations ranged from failing to keep records to failing to provide adequate medical care.
Boysko told The Virginian-Pilot some of the citations only recently came to the legislators’ attention as they were researching the issue to prepare legislation for next year.
“We felt we needed to raise awareness,” said Boysko, who was among several legislators who pushed for more transparency from animal testing facilities during the recent legislative session. “We believe we need to stay on top of this and we can’t trust that everything will be fixed without asking more eyes to be on it.”
Petersen, chair of the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, sent a letter to the three universities this spring requesting more information by May 1 about how they plan to improve
Two of the universities, ODU and EVMS, are located in Hampton Roads.
ODU received citations in Sept. 2021 regarding rabbits being used to test treatments for chronic lung injuries, according to documents posted on the website for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The rabbits were anesthetized and an irritant instilled into the trachea through a catheter to produce a chronic lung injury.
The school was cited for making changes to the experimental protocol without notifying the attending veterinarian and for failing to provide all rabbits with the adequate post-operative monitoring and care, including post-surgical antibiotic treatment. One rabbit with breathing difficulties that required euthanasia died while waiting to be euthanized because the technicians on hand did not have access to euthanasia solution.
Morris Foster, vice president for research at ODU, responded to the legislators’ inquiry with a letter on March 20 and explained the recent citations were an anomaly for the school.
“In the case of the responsible researcher, ODU took immediate action by suspending his research privileges and requiring extensive retraining prior to allowing continued work under rigorous, in-person supervision,” a copy of the letter states. “This blemish on our animal program is not at all reflective of the high standards we strive to maintain.”
EVMS received citations in 2021 and 2023 for multiple incidents, including keeping four chinchillas in a study after they had passed their “humane endpoints” and required euthanasia or to be removed form the experiment. The animals had lost up to 30% of their body weight.
EVMS did not respond to the inquiry from legislators.
Animal testing and breeding in Virginia has come under the microscope in the last two years due to concerns regarding Envigo, a company that breeds dogs to sell as research animals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave one of its centers in Cumberland County dozens of citations for the severe mistreatment of beagles and overall poor facility conditions.
In response, several bipartisan bills aimed at improving the lives of dogs and cats in breeding facilities passed the General Assembly in 2022 and were signed into law by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
“The plight of thousands of beagles suffering at Envigo was a wakeup call for the Commonwealth: Virginians made clear — and legislators agreed by voting unanimously for five “Beagle Bills” — that compliance with animal welfare laws is not optional,” the senators wrote in last week’s statement. “Our constituents, whose tax dollars fund many experiments on animals at Virginia’s public universities, rightfully expect transparency from such institutions.”
Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com
