As of: March 14, 2024, 9:34 a.m
By: Maibrit Schültken
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At the University of Giessen, around 600 mice died due to a temperature control malfunction.
The exact cause is still unclear.
Giessen - Around 600 mice died at the Justus Liebig University (JLU) in Giessen due to a technical defect in a heating system.
The animals, which were kept for medical research purposes, were in the university's physiology building, as the JLU announced on Wednesday (March 13).
A malfunction caused temperatures in the rooms to rise to almost 40 degrees Celsius overnight.
When they started work early in the morning, the animal keepers found numerous animals that had already died.
600 mice die at the University of Giessen: the cause still has to be clarified
Despite immediately relocating the still-living mice to another room, around 600 of the approximately 1,000 animals in the affected stable could not be saved.
According to the university, the remaining 400 mice survived the incident without any visible damage and are in good general condition.
The JLU is in contact with the Giessen Regional Council, the responsible supervisory authority, which confirmed the incident upon request.
In Giessen, around 600 mice died after a sudden rise in temperature.
(Symbolic image) © Friso Gentsch/dpa
The JLU Executive Board expressed concern about the incident and promised a thorough investigation into the causes.
Alexander Goesmann, Vice President for Scientific Infrastructure at the university, emphasized the unbearable thought that so many animals had to die in this way.
The university has a great responsibility for the animals and must ensure that such an incident cannot happen again.
University of Giessen: New security personnel for animal welfare
It will now be investigated why the high temperatures were not detected by the monitoring systems.
As an immediate measure, security personnel will be deployed to monitor all animal holdings until a reliable technical alarm solution is implemented.
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