Here’s a roundup of the 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.
Labs Once Fined Pennies, Now Not Fined At All
Rise for Animals, 6/25/2025
Did you know? The USDA can no longer fine animal labs for cruelty — even in cases involving animal deaths.
Legal loopholes allow labs to go unpunished. Learn what that means, and how we fight back: 📰 Full Story →
Where Research Animals Have a Future: Life at Kindness Ranch
Reilly Strand & Hannah Brook, Cowboy State Daily, 6/21/2025
“Kindness Ranch’s John Ramer will never forget the time he coordinated the placement of 100 dogs from a research facility . . . As Ramer and a man from the facility watched the dogs being loaded up, the man seemed to be emotional, Ramer said. ‘I thought that it was because we were taking all of these dogs, and he was happy to see them go. And when I asked him what he was thinking about, he said that he had to put his family dog down over his lunch break,’ Ramer said.”
“Ramer said there’s a lot of professional detachment in animal testing, and this [] experience taught him a lesson. ‘To see that contrast between how he felt at the loss of his personal dog and how these 100-plus beagles we were loading up were just a commodity, it was kind of an eye-opening experience for me….’.” 📰 Full Story →
How Animal Testing in US Could Be Transformed Under Trump
Jasmine Laws, Newsweek, 6/21/2025
“Since President Donald Trump began his second term, his administration has been making moves to transform and reduce animal testing in country [sic], although the question remains as to whether it will be enough to spare many more animals from pain and suffering this year.”
“‘While the administration’s initiatives to shift research away from animal testing is heading in the right direction, its policies are ‘overdue,’ Dr. Thomas Hartung, a professor in the department of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland, told Newsweek. ‘The animal tests for safety were introduced more than 50 years ago. There is no other area of science where we do not adapt to scientific progress,’ he said.”
“’The alignment of FDA and NIH really makes the difference now, which I think is evidence of a strong relationship of their leaderships,’ he said. Yet in order to make a real difference, Hartung said clear deadlines are key to show that ‘this is not just lip service.’” 📰 Full Story →
VA to End Medical Research on Primates as Animal Rights Group Cheers the Move
Patricia Kime, Military.com, 6/23/2025
“The Department of Veterans Affairs will end its spinal cord research involving monkeys this month . . . The completion wraps up decades of VA research using primates to study a host of medical conditions and treatments, coming at the end of a long effort by activists and lawmakers to halt studies that harm dogs, cats and primates.”
“They added that the VA no longer has any studies using cats but does have one ongoing study on melanoma that involves dogs.” 📰 Full Story →
PETA Files Amicus Brief in NIH Lawsuit: ‘Don’t Trust Data from Greedy Animal Experimenters’
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Legal Reader, 6/23/2025
“PETA has filed an amicus brief that corrects misinformation presented by animal experimenters in their legal battle against the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) February decision to slash grants funding experiments.”
“PETA’s brief . . . argues that courts shouldn’t rely on information provided by experimenters when determining what constitutes ‘irreparable harm.’” 📰 Full Story →
Physicians Committee Presses the NIH to Phase Out Primates in Infectious Disease Research
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 6/25/2025
“Infectious disease research is the most common use of nonhuman primates at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Animal experiments, including those involving monkeys, often fail to accurately reflect human biology and disease, and they are poor predictors of how drugs will perform in terms of efficacy, safety, and toxicity in humans. In response, experts from the Physicians Committee submitted a public comment urging the advisory council of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to phase out the use of monkeys and promote a transition to human-based methods in infectious disease research.” 📰 Full Story →
After PETA whistleblower report, inspection panel calls for rescue of 1,200 animals from Palamur Biosciences in Mahabubnagar
Telangana Today, 6/26/2025
“A central government-appointed inspection committee has recommended for immediate regulatory action including removal and rehabilitation of 1200 animals at Palamur Biosciences, Mahabubnagar, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, in a press release on Thursday said. The recommendations of the inspection committee to remove and rehabilitate the laboratory animals . . . come following an extensive inspection of the facilities….”
“A fortnight ago, PETA, India had released a whistleblower report, which reported serious physical and mental harm to laboratory animals at Palamur Biosciences, a biotech company involved in breeding of beagles and animal testing for development of drugs.” 📰 Full Story →
“Compassion Fatigue” or Guilt Management?
Rise for Animals, 6/23/2025
“Feeling bad about torturing animals at work? Don’t stop — just switch species!”
That’s what the animal research industry calls compassion.
Check out the twisted logic of guilt management in labs: 📰 Full Story →
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riseforanimals.org/news/news-june-27-2025