Video: Baboon Suffering and Death in US Organ-Transplant Laboratory
PETA US has obtained documents, photos, and video footage provided by a whistle-blower of a University of Alabama–Birmingham xenotransplantation laboratory – where the organs of genetically modified pigs are transplanted into baboons – revealing acute animal suffering and scores of apparent violations of the US Animal Welfare Act.
Expired Medications Used
According to the whistle-blower, experimenters did not follow proper protocols for animal care, failed to comply with common veterinary standards, used expired or incorrect medications, and falsified veterinary care records to hide their failure to relieve animals’ suffering.
Staff Members Applied Laundry Detergent to Laja the Baboon’s Gaping Surgical Wound
Among the whistle-blower’s other allegations, a pig’s kidney had been transplanted into a baboon named Laja in January 2019. In a video taken in June 2019 to show the “success” of the surgery, Laja appears emaciated and is missing a lot of hair as she repetitively circles and somersaults in her cage, a sign of extreme psychological distress.
As she became more ill – instead of getting better – following the transplant, fluid built up in her abdomen, pockets of fluid collected along her ulcerated surgery incision, and she developed an open sore on her thigh. Rather than properly treating the wounds, experimenters reportedly applied Woolite laundry detergent to them to hide the poor condition of her skin.
She was killed in September.
Pig’s Heart Transplanted Into a Baboon
The photograph below shows a baboon’s miserable post-operative condition after a pig’s heart was transplanted into her body:
The intravenous tube can be seen leaking. The baboon reportedly died within two days. E-mails shared by the whistle-blower reveal that experimenters discussed underfeeding a pig in order to keep her from growing too large for her organs to be removed and transplanted into another animal.
Animals Are Not Warehouses for Spare Parts
Sensitive monkeys and pigs are being used in grisly Frankenstein experiments that have never worked. The University of Alabama–Birmingham apparently can’t even comply with simple animal protection laws. University President Ray Watts should close this laboratory now.
PETA US is also urging the CEO of United Therapeutics – the company that has bankrolled these experiments with US$19.5 million (£14.8 million) over five years – to rethink its funding, noting that implementing presumed organ-donation consent laws would increase organ availability, thus alleviating the shortage and saving more human lives.
What You Can Do
Experiments on animals are cruel and dangerous – and they’re taking place in the UK, too. In 2019 alone, 3.4 million procedures were conducted on animals in Great Britain. Animals do not belong in laboratories, no matter where they’re located. Call on the government to phase out all animal experiments by signing our petition in support of PETA’s Research Modernisation Deal:
