Regardless of the merits or the lack of merits of animal research, there is no doubt that many of the animals used in research are abused. For example, one animal rights groups, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which wants to eliminate all animal research and whose campaign against the use of animals in research for household products and cosmetics brought the animal rights issue much support with the general public, conducted an undercover investigation of Wright State University's animal research program. They found widespread abuses, such as a rabbit with ears ravaged by scabies mites and a dog, also infested with the parasites, appeared to have scratched itself bloody. In addition, many dogs were found to be suffering from multiple ailments that were left untreated and that rabbits and pigs were clubbed to death and eaten by researchers. They used photographs of these abuses in their advertising campaigns against the university's animal research program, putting them on local billboards and giving them to newspapers. Furthermore, some photographs were sent to federal investigators, leading t

However, the controversy still rages. For example, the U.S. Appeals Court recently ruled that the Agriculture Department need not toughen its regulations on the care and use of animals in research. The appeals court overturned a 1991 order by a district court judge that struck down the department's existing rules. The lower court said those rules gave colleges too much leeway in complying with a 1985 law designed to improve the care of research animals. The ruling also stated that animal rights groups did not have the standing to sue the government (Burd, 1994a, p. A29).

Animal activists hoped that the Wright State case marked a shift in government attitudes toward PETA. They noted that the cooperation on this case came as the Justice Department was investigating whether PETA had been involved in the vandalism of research facilities in several states.