FARGO -- A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit is urging North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven to investigate North Dakota State University's federal animal welfare violations.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine sent a letter this week to Hoeven, hoping to pressure state officials to address the 27 violations NDSU was cited for by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2007.
"We're asking the governor to take this seriously, not only because taxpayer money is involved but because there's evidence the malfeasance ... (is) still going on," said John J. Pippin, a senior medical and research adviser for the group. "This is absolutely wrong."
However, Hoeven's Deputy Chief of Staff Lance Gaebe said he doesn't think the governor will have any response or reaction, adding that the state is confident in NDSU's practices.
"They (PCRM) have an agenda that is less research-based and more animal rights-based," Gaebe said, adding about NDSU's USDA violations: "I think that's all taken care of."
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In fact, NDSU paid a $12,218 fine for the violations, which ranged from poor sanitation to inadequate veterinary care.
NDSU spokeswoman Najla Amundson said the university doesn't have a response to the letter, but complied with open records requests from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Pippin was pushing for the governor to not just investigate, but end the Fargo university's use of live pigs for trauma training. Of the more than 200 institutions in the U.S. and Canada that teach the same course, he said 11, including NDSU, use live animals.
"There is no adequate oversight for this program, and that's why we're going directly to the governor," he said, adding it's the first time the group has gone to a governor for changes. "We really didn't have any other alternative."
Kelly Smith is a reporter at The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.
