Oregon school agrees to release records to animal-rights group

PORTLAND — After a five-year court battle, Oregon Health & Science University has agreed to release more than 113,000 pages of animal-care records to In Defense of Animals, officials said Tuesday.

The legal dispute over records on the treatment of monkeys at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, which is managed by OHSU, began with a lawsuit filed in 2001.

Last year, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that an OHSU plan to charge more than $150,000 to provide the records was excessive, resulting in the agreement announced Tuesday, according to the group and OHSU.

The agreement was welcomed by the animal-rights group, which said the battle began eight years ago with a request for the records.

The university said it had to move carefully to redact — black out — names of researchers to avoid potential threats by animal-rights extremists, officials said.

Matt Rossell, Northwest spokesman for In Defense of Animals, accused OHSU of using that as an excuse to delay the release of the records.