A Seton Hall University faculty member and staff in a campus research lab left about 76 mice unattended for up to 17 days at a time, and the university had no choice but to euthanize the animals, school officials told federal investigators.
The staff in the lab at the South Orange university denied the mice the “essential necessities needed to sustain life” and left their overcrowded cages black with feces, with dead baby mice present, the school’s interim president said in a letter to federal officials after an animal neglect investigation.
The faculty member and staff have been barred from working with lab animals for a year, according to a letter Seton Hall Interim President Katia Passerini sent to the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare on Jan. 26.
Neither Seton Hall officials nor federal officials have publicly identified the faculty member or what type of research was being conducted using the mice at the private Catholic university.
Problems with the lab surfaced in mid-September 2022 when the school’s internal committee in charge of animal care found the lab was not keeping proper breeding records for the 76 mice originally purchased, according to Passerini’s letter.
Inspections on February 24 and May 23, 2023, found worsening conditions with cages “dirty with noticeable excess fecal matter and urine” and bedding that was black with filth, the letter said. Water bottles were empty and some cages had twice as many animals as allowed.
The letter said any research conducted using the mice would not have been reliable under those conditions.
After the Seton Hall researcher failed multiple times to address the issues, the university revoked the lab’s privileges to conduct research on June 1 of last year, the letter said. The university took away the researchers’ access to the lab and arranged for an outside contractor to euthanize the mice.
In a letter to Passerini earlier this month, Michael A. Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation NOW, an Ohio-based national watchdog of research facilities, called on the university to fire the researcher and lab workers.
“These lab workers evinced a total disregard for the animals in their care as well as a total lack of respect for their SHU superiors,” he wrote. “This investigator and the associated staff must never be allowed to touch an animal again. Their SHU employment must be terminated immediately.”
Budkie’s group obtained Seton Hall’s noncompliance report through a public records request.
“It is very unusual for a protocol to be halted, the lab staff barred from the facility, and all the animals euthanized. This is a clear indication that this case of federal violations is excessive and this project has gone totally off the rails,” Budkie told NJ Advance Media.
Seton Hall spokeswoman Laurie Pine said the school takes the integrity and ethical conduct of research seriously.
“Our own rigorous reviews and assessments identified these issues, leading us to immediately issue corrective directives to the principal investigator to align with our strict protocols and animal welfare standards,” Pine said.
After discovering the problems in the lab, the faculty member was quickly suspended from further research and the university has “taken steps to address the conditions uncovered fully,” she added.
Seton Hall officials did not respond when asked what kind of research was being done on the mice or if the researcher and staff will be terminated.
The university was not required to report any potential concerns to the National Institutes of Health, because the lab’s research was not federally funded, according to a spokesman for the agency’s Office of Extramural Research. But as an institution that has contracted with the National Institutes of Health to comply with lab animal welfare practices, the school is encouraged to self-report potential concerns to federal officials.
“An institution’s willingness to be transparent and open shows they will also work collaboratively to address and correct any potential welfare concerns to improve their animal programs,” the National Institutes of Health spokesman said.
According to Passerini’s letter, the faculty member could ask permission to do research with animals again at the end of May 2025, but must prove able to follow animal care protocols before being able to breed them.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Tina Kelley may be reached at tkelley@njadvancemedia.com.
