Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

January 22, 2017
Dr. Jeremy Smedley
Associate Professor, Washington National Primate Research Center
Subject: IACUC response to issue reported to the Committee
Dear Dr. Smedley,
At the January 19, 2017 IACUC meeting, the IACUC reviewed and discussed the spontaneous death of a
monkey housed at the WaNPRC, as well as the failure to change the cage of this animal and the animals housed
in the same room on the 14 th day of the cage cycle as required (the cage change noncompliance has been
addressed in a separate letter).
January 8, 2017 a veterinary technician, while performing morning treatments and rounds, found an 8-year-old
female Pigtail macaque that was lethargic and contacted the veterinarian on call. It was determined that the
animal was severely dehydrated and the lixit line was observed to be hanging unconnected to the cage bank.
Treatment was started, but approximately 40 minutes later the animal died. Husbandry staff had not yet entered
the room to perform morning duties.
Animal Care Logs indicated that twice daily lixit checks had been performed every day prior to January 8, 2017
to ensure that the lixits were functioning properly, however, clinical condition of the animal and necropsy
findings indicate that the animal didn’t have water for at least 48-72 hours.
The Committee understands that the WaNPRC is working with Human Resources in order to determine the
appropriate actions to be taken for the technician involved. The Committee is also aware that the WaNPRC has
instituted a new certification program, technicians have been verbally retrained and SOPs have been updated to
reflect these changes.
The Committee voted to send you this letter of reprimand, expressing their grave concern regarding this
deplorable incident. Please reply to this letter and attach the updated SOPs to your reply and confirm that these
actions, and any others, have been put into place. Please also include a summary of the outcome of the
WaNPRC and Human Resources review of the personnel involved in the incident. Additionally, the IACUC
requests that you, or someone in the management chain, attend the next meeting to explain these decisions.
Please reply by February 6, 2017.
As required by the University’s Animal Welfare Assurance (A3464-01), the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal
Welfare (OLAW) has been given a verbal report of this incident and a written report to them will follow.
Additionally, this event has been reported to the USDA.

Box 357160 Seattle, Washington 98195-7160

http://oaw.washington.edu

 Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

Sincerely,

Dr. Jane Sullivan
Associate Professor, Physiology and Biophysics
Chair, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
c:

Dr. Michael Mustari
Director, Washington National Primate Research Center
Dr. David M. Anderson
Executive Director, Health Sciences Administration
Institutional Official
Dr. Thompson-Iritani
Director, Office of Animal Welfare

Box 357160 Seattle, Washington 98195-7160

http://oaw.washington.edu