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CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS LEADING TO MULTIPLE COUNTS OF CRIMINAL ANIMAL
CRUELTY FILED AGAINST THE NIH'S "ALAMOGORDO PRIMATE FACILITY"
OPERATOR
Prepared by In Defense of Animals /
September 7th, 2004
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September 7, 2004 - For the first time in U.S. history, criminal animal
cruelty charges are filed against an entire animal research laboratory.
District Attorney Scot Key files unprecedented criminal charges against
Charles River Laboratories, Inc. (with Charles River President and CEO
James C. Foster listed as the company's representative) and Charles River
APF Director veterinarian Dr. Rick Lee for multiple counts of criminal
cruelty related to the abandonment and institutional neglect of the
chimpanzees Rex and Ashley, and the near-death of Topsy, at the APF. The
filing also includes the detailed search warrant affidavit executed by D.A.
investigator John Stubbe.
September 8, 2004 - In an article published in the Albuquerque Journal, District Attorney Scot Key
lambastes the NIH, noting that the agency has not provided the necessary
regulatory oversight. He states, "They (NIH) have obviously failed,
because any oversight that NIH has over Charles River is merely on paper,
and in practice they've done little other than do several minor inspections."
TODAY: As of this writing, it appears that Charles River Laboratories has made the decision to hide behind federal jurisdiction, perhaps in the hope that it will only have to answer to the "trust"-based, self-serving "oversight" of the National Institutes of Health. The multiple counts of alleged criminal animal cruelty found by the D.A.'s independent investigation have totally escaped the "oversight" of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care and, of course, the NIH.
The criminal charges also constitute a searing indictment of the NIH's oversight of animal research, raising this fundamental question: If the NIH cannot properly oversee such a high-profile facility that for years has garnered intense scrutiny from Congress, the public and the media, then how can the agency possibly provide proper oversight to the more than 1,600 labs it funds in the U.S. and abroad?
Otero County, New Mexico District Attorney Scot Key's criminal charges against Charles River Laboratories and Dr. Rick Lee constitute the first time in U.S. history that an entire animal research lab has been charged with animal cruelty - a lab directly owned and managed by the NIH.
The NIH continues to fund CRL.
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