PETA asks feds to penalize San Antonio lab after 159 of its baboons suffered amputations from frostb [View all]

Nearly 160 baboons in captivity at San Antonio's Texas Biomedical Research Institute (TBRI) suffered amputations due to frostbite from February's disastrous winter storm, according to documents filed with federal regulators.

A March 15 noncompliance report from the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare noted that the storm caused frostbite to 159 of the federally funded lab's baboons. "Several lost digits, but over 100 had amputation surgery due to tail frostbite," according to the document.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says the filings demonstrate that TBRI provided insufficient shelter for the primates in violation of federal animal welfare laws. On Tuesday, it sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service asking it to levy penalties. The animal rights group noted that the 159 injured baboons represented roughly 15% of the lab's total colony.

"For us, it was astonishing that [TBRI] failed to do something as fundamental as making sure these animals had adequate shelter during a winter storm," said Lisa Jones-Engel, PETA's senior science adviser on primate experimentation. "If you can't provide shelter for animals in your care, frankly, it makes me wonder what else you can't do properly."

https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2021/08/04/peta-asks-feds-to-penalize-san-antonio-lab-after-159-of-its-baboons-suffered-amputations-from-frostbite