Title: Technician Error Leads to Harm of Animal Subjects

Author: Matthew Wroblewski and Tristan McIntosh

Description: Lab technician fails to properly secure animal enclosures resulting in a gory fight between two primates.

Keyword(s): Animal Subjects Research, Sentience

Based On: https://www.statepress.com/article/2018/09/spscience-new-complaint-questions-asus-animal-welfare-practices

Case: No Monkey Left Behind, an animal rights group, submitted a formal complaint against Bohemian Mountain University (BMU) after obtaining documents detailing a gory fight between two primates in a BMU lab. After the fight was broken up, the primates were quickly sedated and then separated by the on-duty lab technician. Veterinarians were contacted to treat the primates’ wounds. One primate had a significant portion of the middle and pinky fingers missing, resulting in an amputation of these fingers. According to the documents, the on-duty lab technician was new to the lab and had not properly secured the enclosures of the primates. No Monkey Left Behind claimed that this incident is a violation of the Animal Welfare Act.

  1. Is the reaction by No Monkey Left Behind justified? Why or why not?
  2. What are the key ethical issues in this situation?
  3. What steps could have been taken to prevent the incident from happening?