Animals in Research Facilities / 99secretary of agriculture, requesting that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture charge LSU with violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
They also wrote to Mike Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, which administers the Public Health
Service, of which the NIH is an agency. PETA’s letter requested that
“the Department of Health and Human Services refuse to provide
federal funding for the building or rebuilding of research facilities
in high-risk areas of the country.” The letter asked that the agency
withhold federal funds from LSU “because of its dereliction of duty
to the animals abandoned and left to drown, suffocate, starve, and
die of dehydration.” PETA also wrote to Louisiana’s attorney gen-
eral, Charles Foti, asking him to charge LSU offi cials with cruelty
for abandoning the animals in their labs. Under Louisiana law, cru-
elty includes abandoning an animal without arranging for its care.
In addition, the group wrote to the chancellor of LSU calling for
the fi ring of two offi cials at the Health Sciences Center.^47 None of
these actions was taken. The letters also pointed out that the ani-
mals should have been evacuated or euthanized.
In calling for the withholding of federal funds, animal advocacy
groups used the only tools available to them. Funding for animal
research comes from tax dollars, and, as members of the public, ani-
mal advocates can object to providing additional money to rebuild
what they see as a deeply fl awed practice. Because these agencies
are part of and invested in animal research as an institution, they
cannot adequately respond to opponents’ charges—even when
those charges do not call for the elimination of all research on ani-
mals. In my research, I found no cases in which federal funds were
withheld, nor did I fi nd any cases in which labs were charged with
violations of the Animal Welfare Act in the aftermath of a disaster.
Indeed, following Hurricane Katrina, the procedures for reporting
animal deaths did not apply. Usually, animal deaths in research labs
that are unrelated to the experiments for which they were desig-
nated must be reported “promptly” and “without delay” to the NIH’s
Offi ce of Laboratory Animal Welfare. The list of reportable situa-
tions includes “conditions that jeopardize the health or well-being
of animals, including natural disasters, accidents, and mechanical