Envigo’s parent company, Inotiv remains one of the leading suppliers of animals for medical research in the U.S. It is a major supplier of endangered long-tailed macaque monkeys to laboratories. It also breeds and sells rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, and mice for experiments and performs tests on animals. Its clients include major pharmaceutical companies, universities and the federal government.
SARAH N. LYNCH: Research animal breeder Envigo pleaded guilty in Virginia on Monday to federal animal welfare and environmental crimes, resolving a two-year U.S. Justice Department probe into its mistreatment of thousands of beagles.
Indiana-based Envigo agreed to pay $22 million in fines – $11 million of which represented the largest-ever Justice Department fine in an animal welfare case – plus $13.5 million more to support animal welfare and environmental projects, cover law enforcement expenses and improve its own facilities…
It pleaded guilty on Monday to one misdemeanor count of conspiring to violate the Animal Welfare Act and one felony count of conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act, after it refused to fix its wastewater treatment equipment and allowed excess animal feces to be discharged into a nearby creek…
In court filings, prosecutors said… that Envigo refused to fire a veterinarian referred to only as “AV,” despite repeated complaints by employees – including concerns that AV mishandled the surgeries of five dogs. “Staff rejection of AV’s authority, paired with AV’s inadequate veterinary skills, led to multiple additional improper and inadequate veterinary practices at the Cumberland Facility,” prosecutors wrote. The veterinarian resigned from the company in April 2022, according to the court filings.
Envigo, acquired by Inotiv in 2021, is one of the leading suppliers of animals for medical research in the United States. Its clients include major pharmaceutical companies, universities and the federal government…
Envigo in 2022 forfeited some 4,000 beagles… The seizure of the dogs came after inspectors with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service documented dozens of violations at Envigo in 2021 and 2022. Problems included dangerous flooring, failing to provide veterinary care, unsanitary conditions, euthanizing dogs without anesthesia, under-feeding mothers nursing puppies and failing to document the cause of death for hundreds of puppies.
The company has ceased operations at the Cumberland facility and is no longer breeding or selling dogs.
PETA, an animal rights group that conducted its own investigation into Envigo, on Monday urged the Justice Department to hold company executives personally accountable. SOURCE…
PETA STATEMENT (in part):
Following PETA’s investigation and the government’s actions, the Cumberland facility closed and nearly 4,000 beagles were released for adoption. But Envigo’s parent company, Inotiv, remains a major supplier of endangered long-tailed macaque monkeys to U.S. laboratories. It also breeds and sells rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, and mice for experiments and performs tests on animals. As part of the first-of-its-kind plea agreement, Inotiv must do these things:
– Submit to an independent monitor’s oversight of its compliance with the law and animal welfare–related probationary conditions.
– Provide sufficient staff for the appropriate care of all animals at each of its facilities in the U.S.
– Give hiring preference to veterinarians who are board-certified specialists.
– Make an independent monitor’s reports on the company publicly available.
– Commit $7 million to animal care improvements at Inotiv facilities, $3 million in reimbursements for the costs of seizing and caring for the surviving dogs from the Cumberland facility, and $3.5 million to restore nearby ecosystems. SOURCE…
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