Research lab at University of Oklahoma draws condemnation for reportedly electrocuting dogs

An animal-rights activist is demanding an investigation after federal documents revealed that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cited a University of Oklahoma (OU) lab for improperly euthanizing dogs and providing them with incorrect anesthesia.

The USDA report, provided to the Associated Press, revealed that the university’s Health Sciences Center electrocuted canines by attaching 9-volt batteries to their hearts, during which the lab provided a potentially inadequate surgical anesthetic. Michael Budkie, Executive Director of the Milford, Ohio-based Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!, wrote in a letter to the USDA that the dual violations could have left the dogs vulnerable to pain during an already ‘barbaric’ procedure.

“The combination of these two violations mean that several dogs in the lab at the University of Oklahoma could have been killed by electrocution to the heart while not fully anesthetized — they could have felt the pain of electrocution,” Budkie wrote.

Tulsa, Okla. news station KOTV reported receiving a statement from the university that admitted the facility received citations from the USDA for two cases, but it didn’t indicate what type of research the lab was conducting at the time of receiving the violations.

“The University has directed that great care should be taken to ensure that all future injections are appropriate,” a university medical program director said of the anesthesia procedures. Budkie wasn’t buying it.

“That statement they issued is clearly not consistent with what a federal agency determined,” he said. Budkie is pushing for a federal inquiry into the lab’s practices and the maximum fine under the law, $10,000 per infraction.

NewsOn6.com – Tulsa, OK – News, Weather, Video and Sports – KOTV.com |

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