This is the common tactic in research labs. One of the first and most famous cases was known as the Silver Springs monkey trial. Alex Pacheco of later PETA fame gained employment in the lab as a caretaker of the monkeys, waited until the lab staff went on vacation then abused the monkeys and filmed the result. The video was released to the press with the story that the lab was responsible for the condition of the monkeys.
That action and others like it have many repercussions because people uncritically believe the MSM. One is to make medical research involving animals much more difficult. The toll in human lives can only be guessed.
Police raid
Pacheco visited the institute at night and took photographs that showed the monkeys' living conditions.[21] Pacheco arranged for scientists and veterinarians to visit the laboratory secretly, and finally reported the situation to the state police, who raided the laboratory under Maryland's Prevention of Cruelty to Animals law.
Trials
Taub was charged with 119 counts of animal cruelty and failing to provide adequate veterinary care. At the conclusion of the first trail, held without a jury, 113 cruelty charges were dismissed by the judge, largely because a Department of Agriculture veterinarian who had made unannounced visits to the laboratory had testified that he did not find the conditions depicted by Pacheco.[22] Taub was convicted of six misdemeanor charges of failing to provide adequate veterinary care and fined $3,500. Five of these were dismissed at a second trial, this time in front of a jury. The final charge was set aside on appeal, when the court ruled that Maryland's Prevention of Cruelty to Animals law did not apply to researchers.
As you can see, there's nothing in the legal proceedings indicating that Pacheco himself was abusing the animals, at least not in this short description.