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On May 31st, Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), an international animal protection group, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) alleging that the Cincinnati Zoo is responsible for the incident in which zoo personnel shot and killed the gorilla Harambe after a child fell into his enclosure. In the complaint, SAEN alleges that the zoo violated section 3.77 of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which states that a primate enclosure must be surrounded by a physical barrier that prevents unauthorized humans from interacting with the animals.

Cincinnati Zoo gorilla enclosure

At a press conference held outside the Cincinnati Zoo on May 31st to announce the complaint, Michael Budkie, SAEN’s executive director, stated, “Since a four year old child managed to enter the enclosure within a matter of minutes, these conditions were obviously not met.”

Michael Budkie announces USDA complaint at a press conference held outside the Cincinnati Zoo.

On June 2nd, the zoo announced that it is modifying the public barrier prior to reopening “Gorilla World” on June 7th. In response, Budkie stated, “The announcement essentially confirms the faulty nature of the previous barrier.It is entirely possible that if this barrier had been in place by Saturday, May 28th, Harambe might be alive today.”

At the press conference, Budkie also disclosed that the zoo violated the AWA on several other occasions. A 2014 USDA inspection found deteriorating wooden boards in colobus monkey and Przewalski’s horse enclosures, violating sections 3.80 and 3.125. In addition, two polar bears escaped from their enclosure on March 16, 2016, into the zookeeper area due to negligence — a repeat violation of section 3.125. The USDA inspection report states: “. . .had the bears gained outside access, the public would have been at great risk for injury, harm or death.” SAEN believes that, because of this track record, the USDA will likely impose the maximum penalty of $10,000 per infraction/animal on the zoo.

USDA inspection report regarding the escape of two polar bears at the Cincinnati Zoo.

For Budkie, however, this incident is about much more than AWA violations and the killing of Harambe. Rather, it calls into question whether or not zoos should exist at all. “At the end of the day, zoos are money-making businesses masquerading as conservation groups. True conservation focuses on the preservation of natural habitats, not holding wild animals captive in small enclosures where many go insane from lack of stimulation, stress and the frustration of confinement.”

Children pay their respects to Harambe outside of the Cincinnati Zoo

On May 28th, a four year old child fell into Harambe’s enclosure after crawling through a fence leading to it. While the gorilla did not attack the boy, the zoo decided to shoot him as a safety precaution.

For more information, please visit Stop Animal Exploitation Now.

In the past week,  the organization Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) has uncovered egregious acts of violence against animals by lab workers at three different universities. In all three cases, SAEN has filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking for penalties and/or for the studies to be terminated.

Here’s what SAEN’s uncovered by combing through records:

At The University of South Florida (USF), lab workers deprived monkeys of water, leading to at least one death.

At Oregon Health & Science Univsersity (OHSU), an animal caretaker was exposed for repeatedly punching a pig in her face, drawing blood. Within a week of her arrival, the pig was killed in a “terminal procedure.”

Protesters block OHSU animal research site in 2010 (photo: Brent Wojahn/The Oregonian)

At Washington University in St. Louis, a lab technician with “a history of rough handling of animals” was exposed for punching a dog with “a closed fist.”

After a busy week exposing the lab abuse and filing complaints, SAEN’s Executive Director Michael Budkie reflected on the individuals for whom he is fighting: “As if being caged in a lab and subjected to painful experiments isn’t bad enough, these animals are often victims of gratuitous abuse — abuse that is rarely exposed because of the extreme measures taken to hide the truth. But SAEN will continue to use all tools available to us to shine a spotlight on these abusive facilities until they’re shut down for good.”

SAEN’s recent victories

As expected, all three of the universities issued statements claiming that they “place a high priority on the proper care and treatment of research animals” and that “mistreatment of any research animal is not tolerated.”

In 2012, In Defense of Animals (IDA), another organization that works to end laboratory abuses, released the findings of a two year undercover investigation at OHSU. Here’s what they exposed then is consistent with the abuses that continue today:

Please visit www.SAENonline.org to learn more about these incidents and find out what small steps you can take to be a voice for animals who are held captive and used in painful, unethical, redundant and unnecessary laboratory experiments.

Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) is calling for the USDA to fine MIT after a lab worker cleaned a cage without removing a rabbit inside of it. In December, the USDA fined Harvard Medical School $24,000 after finding repeated animal welfare violations that resulted in the deaths of four monkeys since 2011.

What right do we have imprisoning, experimenting on and killing animals in laboratories? These animals didn’t choose to sacrifice their freedom, and they didn’t voluntarily donate their bodies. They don’t belong to us. To make matters worse, we treat them like inanimate objects in labs — storing them in small cages, depriving them of socialization and the outdoors and cutting them open with no painkillers. The irony is that using animals in research is unreliable and outdated. It continues because it’s a money-making enterprise. For more information and to see how you can help, please visit Stop Animal Experimentation Now.

According to a report released by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), activists campaigning against animal experimentation are targeting the individuals involved in the research because prote sting against the universities has proven to be ineffective. In response to the shifting tactics, FASEB is advising researchers to limit the amount of personal information they share online and advising universities to assemble a “crisis management team” comprised to respond to incidents. Eric Bernthal from HSUS responded to the report asking why the reason for attacks isn’t being explored and adds, “If you’re going to give advice to researchers about how to solve this problem, the most constructive way is to use fewer animals in research, not assemble crisis communication teams.”

Vivisection protest in Spain

In university labs across the country, researchers receive government grants to imprison and cut open live monkeys in order to conduct what are often redundant, unnecessary, painful and deadly behavior studies. It’s a very big business. Locking up animals in cages and experimenting on their bodies are cruel and unjustifiable practices. To see how you can help end animal testing, please visit Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN).