Posted: November 12th, 2009 - 7:46am
Source: Salt Lake Tribune

U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors were giving University of Utah animal-research labs a thumbs up at the very time an "undercover" animal-rights activist claims she was documenting miserable conditions and illegal treatment of animals inside two U. facilities.
U. officials on Tuesday released annual inspection reports dating back to 2005 in response to allegations of systemic abuse leveled by the People for the Treatment of Animals (PETA). All the inspection reports say the same thing: "No noncompliances identified."
"The University's labs are inspected frequently without warning or advance notice by state and national agencies, and our labs have always been in full compliance with all government guidelines for animal care," U. administrators said in a prepared statement.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is charged with ensuring compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, which spells out care standards for dogs, monkeys cats, pigs and other animals used in laboratory experiments.
But that agency is "riddled with problems" and is ill-equipped to do "a decent job," said PETA's Kathy Guillermo Wednesday at a Salt Lake City press event where she displayed video her agent shot with hidden cameras.