BALTIMORE — Johns Hopkins University has been cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for inadequate veterinary care and personnel qualifications after more than a dozen piglets at the facility died because of poor care since March.

Some died in the days following birth when researchers caring for them did not seek out veterinary help despite documented decline of the piglets, while others died when staff putting tubes down their throats lacked the appropriate training, causing the piglets to choke to death on their own vomit, the federal citation said.

The citation is dated June 2026.

Johns Hopkins did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, condemned the treatment by Johns Hopkins researchers and filed a complaint with the USDA.

“Allowing piglets to suffer internal infections so painful that some died within two days — without veterinary care — is a grotesque perversion of science,” a statement by PETA said. “The animals’ agonizing deaths at Johns Hopkins University were the result of poorly-trained, unsupervised staff with no oversight.

“PETA … urges the university to divert its nearly $1 billion in annual federal grants toward superior, non-animal research methods that are more likely to help human patients who deserve swift treatment.”

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