DAVIS, Calif. -- The animal research department at the University of California, Davis, is under fire after seven monkeys were killed over the weekend.

The university said the deaths were caused by a problem with a heating and air conditioning system. They said the system got stuck on heat, and that before anybody realized something was wrong, most of the monkeys were already dead.

UC Davis officials said the monkeys' deaths have saddened the entire research staff. The director of the UC Davis Primate Center, Dallas Hyde, said the monkeys were left unattended overnight inside a temporary housing facility on campus.

Officials said the temperatures inside the room reached 115 degrees. The monkeys' water ran out, and seven of the eight that were in the room died of dehydration.

"I'm heartbroken over this, that we lost these animals. But it's not just their death; it's the way they suffered while they died," Hyde said. more...