NewsChannel 5.com - Nashville, Tennessee - PETA Protests Vandy's Animal Research

PETA Protests Vandy's Animal Research

Local animal advocates claim Vanderbilt University tortures lab animals, and they took their message to the streets Friday.

Demonstrators gathered peacefully outside Vanderbilt University, but their statement was clear.

They said a whistleblower in the lab at Vanderbilt contacted PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

The snitch claims a Vanderbilt Researcher tortured the lab's primates, deprived an animal of liquids and didn't clean feces off of a restrained monkey.

"The whistleblower claimed Jeffrey Schall had performed brain surgery and drilling and so forth on the monkeys without first anesthetizing them," animal advocate Billye Thompson said.

A Vanderbilt University spokesperson made the following statement:

"We believe PETA's allegations against Dr. Schall's research practices to be unfounded and completely false.  And that PETA, without performing due diligence to check facts, willfully chose to inaccurately interpret a comment made by a university faculty member about animal research to their best advantage."