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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal officials have acknowledged that a nonprofit institute in Albuquerque that uses animals for research is the subject of an investigation.
Confirmation of the investigation stemmed from a public records request filed earlier this year by the animal-right group Stop Animal Exploitation Now, a frequent critic of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regularly inspects the lab, stated in a recent letter that the records could not be released due to an open investigation.
The agency on Monday did not immediately respond to questions about what spurred the investigation.
The lab was fined nearly $22,000 in 2011 for Animal Welfare Act violations, and federal inspectors reported earlier this year that an untrained technician's actions resulted in the death of one of the lab's research dogs.
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