Here’s a roundup of last week’s biggest news stories related to animal research — all the recent media coverage you need to know right now to be the most effective activist for animals in labs.
World’s Largest Animal Research Funder Gives Us an Opening!
Rise for Animals, 4/30/2025
Good news! Just a few days ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — the world’s largest funder of animal research — announced plans to reduce animal testing. It’s a hopeful shift which we must hold accountable and push further. 📰 Full Story →
University Researchers = Architects of Animal Ag’s Violence
Rise for Animals, 4/30/2025
Public universities have helped build and legitimize Big Ag’s system of violence against animals. Learn how this industry-academic alliance still thrives — and how you can help dismantle it. 📰 Full Story →
Rats Solve Puzzles and Mice Recognize Us: A Rare Glimpse into Life for Animals in Labs
Jo-Anne McArthur, We Animals, 4/24/2025
“The more we know about rodent sentience and intelligence, the more controversial it becomes that we keep millions of them in the deprived environments of biomedical research facilities each year. Ironically, lab studies of rats . . . have shown that they are incredibly intelligent, sometimes even more so than humans.”
“Given what we know about rat and mouse sentience and intelligence, we need more public outcry, more boycotts of products tested on lab animals, and more pressure and support to move rapidly toward new methodologies and non-animal models.” 📰 Full Story →
Monkey Island: Cash, conflict and science college on mysterious SC outpost where primates run free
Marilyn W. Thompson & Mitchell Black, The Post and Courier, 4/27/2025
“Visitors are not welcome here, although taxpayers paid millions to buy and maintain the property . . . It is the largest, noisiest, nastiest free-ranging colony of rhesus monkeys in the United States. And by far the most controversial.”
“The island may look idyllic, but it is no Shangri-la. The infant monkeys who gambol in sand will almost certainly grow up to be test subjects in research, so intrusive it at times ends in mercy killings. About 500 primates, each bearing a numeric chest tattoo, are trapped every year, ferried to the mainland and trucked to federal laboratories.”
“Deep cuts under the Trump administration, and changing sensibilities about the cost and cruelty of animal research, have left Monkey Island in limbo. The primates are owned by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, once headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, and all federal health agencies are under pressure to reexamine animal research.” 📰 Full Story →
‘Staff incompetence’ blamed for lab animal deaths at LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport
Joey Johnson, KTAL6 News, 4/28/2025
“LSU Health Sciences Center of Shreveport is under fire after multiple rule violations caused the death of numerous lab animals.”
Violations “included an unsecured controlled substances cabinet, unauthorized personnel participating in research activities, children in the workplace, a non-research animal in the building, and various study participants not wearing proper personal protective equipment (PPE). The violations are believed to be the reason for a failed C-section that resulted in the deaths of all 19 pigs involved.” 📰 Full Story →
Lab Animals Face Being Euthanized as Trump Cuts Research
Emily Anthes, The New York Times, 4/29/2025
Moves by the current administration that “have left many of [sic] scientists out of work and disrupted clinical research, have profound ramifications for the lab animals that serve as the basis for much of the nation’s biomedical research . . . The ultimate toll is difficult to predict, experts said, in part because many of the administration’s actions are embroiled in legal battles. Animal research is also shrouded in secrecy; there are no definitive numbers on how many animals live in U.S. laboratories.”
“For some animal rights activists, downsizing the federal animal research enterprise is something to celebrate. ‘For a lot of these animals, being euthanized before being experimented on is probably a best-case scenario,’ said Justin Goodman, a senior vice president at the White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit that advocates the end of federally funded animal research. (The organization would prefer to see lab animals placed in new homes, he noted.)” 📰 Full Story →
Over 100 dogs rescued from abandoned New Jersey animal testing lab didn’t know what grass was
Shore News Network, 4/30/2025
“A resurfaced video showing more than 100 neglected beagles rescued from a shuttered animal testing facility in New Jersey has reignited scrutiny of Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), whose company previously owned the lab. The renewed attention follows Thanedar’s recent move to file articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.”
“The footage, originally filmed in 2010, captures volunteers from animal rights groups helping beagles off transport trucks, trimming nails, and comforting visibly distressed animals who appeared to have never set foot on grass. [118 beagles and 55 monkeys] had been left behind after Thanedar’s company, Azopharma, filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations at its AniClin Preclinical Services facility in Ewing, NJ.” 📰 Full Story →
$4 Billion More for Science? Cue Animal Researchers’ Outrage
Rise for Animals, 4/29/2025
The federal government is finally trying to clean up science funding, and the animal research industry is furious. Why? Because they’ve been raking in billions from a broken system that values profit over progress. Learn how reform is exposing the real motivations behind vivisection. 📰 Full Story →
Non-Animal & Human-Relevant Research News: April 2025
Rise for Animals, 5/1/2025
Discover amazing scientific breakthroughs from the whole month of April! Meet the newest human-relevant tech that could mean fewer animals in labs: Brainless lab-grown humans; “pee brains”; 3D-printed skin; patients-on-a-chip; and more. 📰 Full Story →