UW admits to causing brain damage to monkey during testing in primate lab

A national animal rights organization said Wednesday that the University of Washington admitted to making mistakes while testing animals in a primate lab, causing brain damage to a monkey.

It’s not the first time the UW primate lab has come under scrutiny. Last year, courts ruled that the UW had to pay animal rights group PETA $540,000 after the school was found to have destroyed public records while under federal investigation.

On Wednesday, animal rights organization Stop Animal Exploitation NOW (SAEN) accused the UW of damaging a monkey’s brain during an experiment.

SAEN says the university admitted in its own report that “one nonhuman primate sustained an injury to the cerebral tissue during placement of a recording device … In this incident, the guide cannula was extended too far and caused trauma to the underlying tissue as the device was placed.”

According to SAEN, the school “has been brutally abusing primates for years.” The organization has filed a federal complaint against the UW and is calling for a fine of $12,272 for each violation.

KIRO 7 reached out to the UW for a statement, which reads:

The University of Washington takes the welfare of animals in our care very seriously. The UW reports any such incidents itself to the appropriate agencies, and this unfortunate incident was reported publicly at the March 16 meeting of the UW’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). A full review of the incident has taken place and changes to training protocols have already been put in place to avoid such an accident occurring in the future. The animal is doing well and is back in social housing.

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