Due to Wastefulness of Animal Lives, Taxpayer Dollars and Amount of Abuse, the University of Wisconsin at Madison Rated Worst for Lab Animal Treatment

Due to Extraordinary Wastefulness of Animal Lives and Taxpayer Dollars and the Amount of Documented Abuse, the University of Wisconsin at Madison Rated Worst for Lab Animal Treatment.

Wow, that’s quite a ranking. Considering all of the documented cases of egregious cruelty out there, to get number one means that you really are one messed up organization. Quite an accomplishment. And yes, some will discount this rating due to PETA being involved, but just go ahead and take out PETA and look at the documented facts. No matter who is presenting it, it’s clear that there’s some sick stuff going on at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Animal rights activists rate UW researchers worst for lab animal treatment

http://www.dailycardinal.com/

article.php?storyid=1028532

Thursday, February 2, 2006

UW-Madison earned another top 10 accolade Wednesday when it ranked No. 1 on People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals list of the top 10 worst offenders for lab animal treatment, according to a PETA statement.

University officials were not available to comment on the ranking Wednesday.

Mary Beth Sweetland, PETA director of research and investigation said they chose UW-Madison because of its various high-profile experiments involving animals, including UW-Madison professor John Webster’s highly-publicized Taser experiments that used live pigs.

“We based our picks on the wastefulness of animal lives and taxpayer dollars and the amount of documented abuse,” Sweetland said.

She contends that some elements of experiments conducted in UW–Madison research labs are illegal.

In regard to UW-Madison’s top status in fields of research, she characterized that standing as illegitimate as well.

“If you look at the usual criteria—how the top research facilities are ranked—it’s generally by the amount of money they’re getting which says nothing really about the research itself,” Sweetland said.

Sweetland cited several experiments PETA has expressed disapproval for, including the Taser experiments and primate research performed by professor Ei Terasawa-Grilley.

“If the cruelty to animal statutes applied to researchers, they’d probably all have been charged long ago, animal researchers at the UW,” Sweetland said. “But sadly that’s not the case and it is not up to PETA to enforce the law.”

—Jamie Thomas