Rhesus monkeys suffering from severe weight loss, anorexia and eventually fatal chronic diarrhea after being infected with the monkey equivalent of the AIDS virus. Primates held in chair restraints for over four days straight. These scenarios seem grim, but until now, University of Wisconsin researchers failed to report them as "pain and distress." Fortunately, at least one facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) plans to change that.
From 1996 to 1998, UW-Madison reported that out of almost 400,000 research animals used at the institution, none of them experienced pain and distress. After repeated attempts to discuss under-reporting of animal pain and distress with the school, such as our letter of July 17, 2000 and another on November 20, 2000, and virtually no response from the university, The HSUS applied some public pressure, including two Badger Herald newspaper ads (the first and the second) urging students to take action.
With that, as well as pressure from other animal protection organizations, the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC) has announced that it will be more precise in reporting animal pain and distress to the federal government, and will adhere to a more rigid clarification of distress. WNPRC, located on the UW-Madison campus and one of eight national primate research centers in the United States, is only one of several animal research facilities on the UW-Madison campus.
Both The HSUS and Stop Animal Exploitation Now! have criticized UW-Madison's annual statistics on pain and distress filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Animal Welfare Act, claiming that the reported figures are implausible and inconsistent with published descriptions of research being conducted at UW research facilities.
WNPRC personnel noted special challenges posed by reporting distress. "Distress is quite subjective," noted Joseph Kemnitz, WNPRC director. "You have to look at the animals to make a judgment and we are requiring every investigator who uses animals to do that." Chris Coe, a WNPRC graduate professor, believes that "Most researchers underreport distress categories because there is no good definition of distress."
"The HSUS welcomes the WNPRC's decision to improve its reporting of pain and distress, especially their resolve to pay special attention to distress," says Kathleen Conlee, HSUS program officer for animal research issues. "We hope the entire University of Wisconsin-Madison adopts this approach, not just the Primate Center. The USDA should adopt an appropriate definition of distress so that research facilities nationwide receive uniform guidance on this component of animal suffering."
Sources: University of Wisconsin-Madison Daily Cardinal, November 12, 2003; The HSUS
