Vassar lab faces federal investigation

PETA decries animal care standards on campus

Hayley Tsukayama News Editor

Animal neglect allegations from a former Vassar animal care technician have prompted a federal investigation into how Vassar treats its laboratory animals.

The technician reported the maltreatment to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in August 2007 on the condition of anonymity. His official complaint stated that birds in Associate Professor of Psychology Jeffrey Cynx’s lab are denied basic veterinary treatment and humane, timely euthanasia. “We were shocked to know animals weren’t receiving care,” said PETA Senior Researcher Dr. Alka Chandna. “Vassar is regarded so highly.” After filing his complaint, the technician left the employ of the College. He wishes to remain anonymous “for fear of retribution,” according to Chandna.

In response to PETA’s complaints, the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) will investigate claims of laboratory animal neglect in the bird lab.
According to Chandna, PETA discussed the technician’s accusations with a legal team and OLAW. The organization filed a federal complaint that prompted the investigation.

PETA then sent a letter to College President Catharine Bond Hill urging her to begin an internal investigation. Dutchess County Attorney William V. Grady also received a copy of the letter.
The letter accuses Vassar of the following cases of neglect:

•A finch was no longer able to sit on his perch and seemed to lack balance and coordination. Despite employee complaints, the bird was ignored for a week before he was euthanized.

•A finch had caught and injured his foot in the wire mesh of his cage. Supervisors waited a week before amputating the bird’s entire leg.

•A finch suffered a severe head injury that caused the left side of his head to swell and obstructed the vision in his left eye. The bird suffered for a week before he was found dead in his cage, with blood “everywhere,” according to one employee.

•A female quail had an open, bloody wound on her back as a result of her tiny brooder enclosure in which she was housed. The height of each compartment is less than a foot, and the birds, who stand half the height of the enclosure, jump and sustain injuries.

PETA believes that these conditions violate New York Agriculture and Markets Law § 353, an animal cruelty law that protects those running “properly conducted scientific experiments” from prosecution.

The letter also listed objections to the general nature of Cynx’s research, calling it “questionable.” Chandna believes that it has no benefit to “human or animal health” or greater society, a stipulation of federal government principles for vertebrate research. Much of Cynx’s research involves the musical abilities of song birds, and examines how bird song is related to human speech.

The animal housing facilities in Blodgett Hall have strict security measures in response to repeated vandalism attempts when the College first built them in 1998. There are currently about 20 zebra finches in the bird lab, all bred in captivity.

According to Associate Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Biology Robert Suter, the College employs trained animal care technicians through the Consolidated Animal Resource Facility (CARF). CARF oversees the animal labs and writes all institutional lab policy. These technicians are responsible for caring for the animals when they are not being used for experiments. Suter said that researchers provide lab technicians with a copy of their approved research protocol, and the technicians handle the animals. Suter said that to his knowledge, there have been no complaints filed with CARF this past year.

Cynx said experimenters in his lab take additional precautions to ensure animal health, including weighing the birds every day. “The idea that animal welfare comes before experimentation is pushed really hard,” said Cynx. “You would have a hard time getting an article published in a scientific journal if you were using animals that were not well.”

Originally a musician, Cynx researches how birds produce and perceive musical sounds. He also looks into the similarities and differences between human speech and bird songs. “Bird song is the most complex learned language, except for human speech,” said Cynx. Both are “lateralized” behaviors, meaning that one side of the brain is used for producing speech or song, and the other for perceiving it.

He has also found that birds produce new neurons in the spring.

For years, scientists believed that neurons could not regenerate. Now, leading scientists such as the Salk Institute’s Fred H. Gage have looked at the work of Cynx and his colleagues and are applying the theory of neurogenesis to the study of depression and stress. “It’s a very neat field to be in,” said Cynx, “to be able to do this kind of work.”

Cynx is currently examining the effect of testosterone on birds’ songs.

In the case of the zebra finches with which he works, song is written by testosterone. He is interested in learning whether additional testosterone will lower the pitch of a bird’s song, and if such a change would render it unrecognizable to other birds.

To conduct these experiments, he inserts tubes filled with the hormone into the birds’ backs, and castrates them. The castration lowers testosterone to negligible levels, thus allowing researchers to control how much of the hormone is in the bird at a time. All animal surgeries, said Suter, are done under anesthesia.

“One of the questions when I first got into this,” said Cynx, “was whether a bird song was absolutely fixed…or if birds’ songs were more cognitive.” Cynx hopes his current research will support the results of his former studies, which proved that birds adjust certain attributes of their songs depending on their environment.

He stands by the validity of his research and asserts that all the animals used in his experiments are healthy. “I’m looking at bird songs,” he said, “These birds are singing to attract a mate. If they were distressed, the results would be garbage. I don’t understand [the basis of the accusations] at all.”

All animal laboratory testing occurs under the supervision of Vassar’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), which acts as the institutional review board for studies involving vertebrate animal tests. The OLAW mandates that an IACUC must have five members and must include at least one veterinarian, one practicing animal research scientist, one non-science researcher, and one unaffiliated public member.

“Everything that gets done with or to an animal has to be approved by IACUC,” said Suter, from observing animal behavior to performing surgery. “IACUC has to both ensure that any procedure done with animals is following [state and federal] regulations, and that the work is appropriate to the conditions the animals are in.” Animal researchers seeking publication in academic journals must submit the date and number of IACUC approval with their article.

An OLAW investigation can have four outcomes. The agency may decide that the institution’s program is fine and is complying with regulations, that the institution should revise its institutional regulations, that the OLAW should partially censure the institution and suspend some research, or that the OLAW may revoke an institution's right to conduct animal research.

After receiving an official complaint, the OLAW establishes if the charges fall under their jurisdiction and then recommends the institution conduct its own review. An spokesperson from the NIH said, “The Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare at the National Institutes of Health investigates all allegations involving animal welfare that are brought to their attention. NIH cannot discuss whether or not an investigation is taking place, and NIH does not comment on ongoing investigations if such investigations are underway.” When Vassar’s report is complete, the OLAW will review it and, if necessary, conduct its own review.

Hill said that the President’s Office has already begun planning for such a review. “What we will investigate is whether we’re meeting the standards of care for the animals,” said Hill, adding that there were two very different issues at stake. “If we’ve not lived up to the expected standards, we need to know that and we need to know why. But that’s a different question than if it’s valid research to be doing and if it is moral,” she said.