A failure at a UC Davis lab has led to the death of 21,000 fish, P.E.T.A. calls for shutdown
DAVIS — 12,000 fish are dead after a failure at a UC Davis lab, and now some people are calling for the facility to be closed.
"I think UC Davis should lose its license to keep animals," said PETA Senior Vice President Kath Guillermo.
The poisoning took place at the Center for Aquatic Biology and Aqua Culture, located west of the main campus.
The fish are held in water tanks that are up to 24 feet wide at the facility, where students can perform various conservation experiments on-site on several species of threatened and endangered fish, including sturgeon and Chinook salmon.
"The tank water where these fish were living in ended up with chlorine in them. Chlorine is exquisitely toxic to fishes," said Dr. Laurie Brignolo.
She continued, "The assumption is that there was some sort of backup in the pump system or piping system that led to this."
UC Davis is now reviewing safety procedures at its other labs and says that the death of so many fish could impact years of research.
Guillermo says that the lab shouldn't get a chance to kill more fish and should be shut down.
In the past, the university has been cited by the USDA for fatalities at its primate research center.