The USDA will impose a record fine against a company that supplies life science researchers with critical materials. Santa Cruz Biotechnology had been facing a variety of animal welfare charges related to lapses in the care of the research animals it kept. The $3.5-million fine comes as part of a settlement that will end the company's issues with federal regulators. While the company won't admit any wrongdoing, the settlement calls for it to lose its license to keep two species of research animals.

Santa Cruz Biotechnology creates antibodies to specific proteins, which researchers then purchase in order to isolate and identify those proteins. The antibodies themselves are often created in furry little factories: research animals that have received immunizations against the protein in question. These animals then continue making useful antibodies for as long as they live; the antibodies can be isolated using blood samples.

After some initial inspections suggested that Santa Cruz was keeping some animals alive after the point that they should be euthanized due to things like tumors, further searches revealed that the company was being generally shifty about its animal records keeping. An entire herd of goats was never declared in any of the company's paperwork, and the company once cleared out almost 4,000 research animals in advance of some USDA hearings.

The $3.5 million fine is a record for the USDA; in a statement, the Animal Welfare Institute said the previous record was only $300,000. But some of the other terms of the settlement are likely to be much more problematic from the company's perspective, as it will lose its license to keep rabbits and goats, two species covered by the US Animal Welfare Act. "By losing its research registration this month, SCBT will not be able to extract blood from animals covered under the Animal Welfare Act," an Animal Welfare Institute spokesman told Ars. "The company’s license is revoked December 31, 2016, which will prevent SCBT from ever selling antibodies derived from Animal Welfare Act covered species in the US."

The company can still use other sources of antibodies, such as mice, rats, and chickens. But goats and rabbits can often produce far more material over the course of their lives than other species, and their antibodies are useful in some contexts where those from mice are not.