Fewer pound animals headed for research at University of Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Shelter cats and dogs make up a good population for testing new drugs because, like the human population, they have diverse genes and backgrounds, said Jack Taylor, a veterinary pathologist with the University of Utah's Office of Comparative Medicine.

And though most animals experimented on at the university are rodents and fish, the small percentage of cats and dogs used for research are simply given drugs and blood-tested, Taylor said.

The little-known practice of using unwanted companion animals for study came to the fore in 2009 after People for Ethical Treatment of Animals released undercover video of lab experiments on a tabby cat whose skull was cut into for placement of electrodes.

Taylor said the incidents in PETA's report "did not happen that way," but the increased attention led to passage of a bill in the 2010 legislative session that, since being signed by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, will cut the public supply of pound animals to the program.

HB107 requires public animal shelters to hold lost pets for five days and check their tags and microchips before adopting or euthanizing them. It also gives those pounds a choice in whether to provide animals for research, a choice they didn't have before PETA brought the issue to light in 2009. The University of Utah is the only institution in the state that had been using shelter animals for study.

Taylor said he's unconcerned about the new law because many of the animals he experiments on come from private breeders. He added that more than half of the companion animals used for university study are kept alive and adopted out, though some are killed for tissue sampling.

Already, Davis County has decided to no longer provide animals to the university, said animal control officer Curtis Andersen.

"We were taking all the heat," Andersen said, explaining county officials' decision.

That leaves the North Utah Valley Animal Shelter in Lindon as the only Utah pound that plans to send strays to the university for research.

"It's still advantageous for the animals to continue sending them up there because otherwise they'd be euthanized," explained shelter director Tug Gettling. "The benefits of using animals for research are unprecedented for medical technology in the human field and also the animal field."

The university pays a fee of $15-$20 for each animal used for research, but Gettling says the money did not play into the decision to continue with the program.