Federal Fines Against Laboratories are SHOCKINGLY Inconsistent!

In 2013 one hundred and sixty-three federally protected animals were killed—through sheer laboratory NEGLIGENCE! This is not counting the millions of animals who have died as a result of tests, or the millions of animals who are totally excluded from coverage by the Animal Welfare Act. These deaths were due to utter carelessness on the part of a wide variety of well-known laboratories!

Logic dictates that regardless which is guilty, when labs are charged by the USDA for causing rabbits, dogs, monkeys, guinea pigs, sheep, etc. to die because of flat-out incompetence, the penalties would be comparable for each lab. Astonishingly, though, even in the cases where the USDA has fined labs for virtually identical occurrences—those that involved ineptitude resulting in deaths—the range of penalties is preposterously inconsistent! With charges that are often vastly below maximum amounts!

For example—in 2013 the University of Louisiana was fined approximately $38,000 for THREE animal deaths relevant to TWO citations. While Harvard was fined $24,000 for FOUR deaths pertinent to ELEVEN citations! Which calculates to approximately:

University of Louisiana - $12,667 per fatality
Harvard                        -  $6,000 per fatality

The objective of this petition is to persuade the honorable Tom Vilsack - Secretary of Agriculture to automatically fine labs the maximum amount every time a noncompliance is connected to an animal death.That would be $10,000 per animal death; which means laboratories like Harvard would be fined a minimum of $40,000, not $24,000. If you believe in justice, please sign this petition and share it far and wide! Thank you!