University administration’s statement regarding Circuit Court ruling on submarine rescue studies

The university is reviewing Dane County Circuit Court Judge Amy Smith’s decision to defer animal cruelty charges involving longstanding submarine rescue studies to a special prosecutor.

These studies, using sheep and funded by the Navy, are designed to identify the best ways to prevent or treat decompression sickness that often occurs during a submarine rescue attempt.

The judge’s determination, although permitting the filing of charges, does not mean that any university employees have committed criminal conduct or even that they will be charged. The issue is before the court as a result of a petition by the Alliance for Animals and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) subsequent to a decision by Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard, who concluded that pursuing charges would be an unwise use of limited resources.

Sheep have been used in these experiments because they share physiological characteristics with people that are highly relevant to decompression-associated diseases.

The studies in question were stopped when the university received an interpretation that they might contravene a state law intended to bar decompression as a form of euthanasia. Findings from the study are already in use by the Navy and have been applied to mitigate decompression sickness in submariners and divers.