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.
Big News! FDA to Phase Out Some Animal Testing
Rise for Animals, 4/10/2025
In a victory for animals and people alike, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to immediately begin phasing out its longstanding requirement for animal testing in the development of some monoclonal antibodies and other drugs. 📰 Full Story →
Animals Need Liberation, Not Resurrection: Thoughts on the “De-Extincted” Dire Wolf
Rise for Animals, 4/9/2025
Let’s focus on saving animals here and now, not on playing Jurassic Park. Check out why reviving extinct species like the dire wolf is harmful — and what we should be focusing on instead: 📰 Full Story →
For Humans, “Loving Science” Can Mean It’s Okay to Kill
Rise for Animals, 4/10/2025
A fascinating research study has confirmed something many of us fighting to end animal experimentation have long suspected: The more someone glorifies “science”, the more willing they are to harm others for it. 📰 Full Story →
Insects are everywhere in farming and research – but insect welfare is just catching up
Bob Fischer, The Conversation, 4/4/2025
“Fruit flies, for example, are willing to cross electrical barriers that give them mild shocks to reach food. However, they won’t cross barriers that give them stronger shocks, even when very hungry. This suggests that there’s something more than simple reflexes at work: The animal is weighing different motivations to make a decision. Evidence like this keeps accumulating. Some bees can remember experiencing high heat and weigh this against the reward of sugar when it’s offered in hot containers. They also display emotion-like states, in that they respond to cognitive bias tests the way other animals do . . . Fruit flies become averse to temperatures that were once innocuous after researchers amputate their legs, just as some injuries in humans can lead to heightened pain sensitivity. Tobacco hornworm moth larvae and cockroaches tend to their wounds when hurt. And contrary to a common myth, many male praying mantises try to avoid being eaten by females; they don’t always just continue mating.”
“In lab research, one potential concern is performing live dissections, once known as vivisection, without anesthetics or analgesics. The practice has been almost universally abandoned for vertebrate animals but is still routine with some insects. People have described many cases of insect neglect to me, including times when researchers have accidentally let insects starve or become fatally dehydrated after experiments conclude, rather than euthanizing them.” 📰 Full Story →
After Watching The Plague Dogs and Bawling My Eyes Out, I Think I’m Ready to Talk About It
Rich Knight, CinemaBlend, 4/6/2025
“The Plague Dogs, which is about two dogs being hunted in the wilderness, is probably the saddest movie I’ve ever seen. Based on the Richard Adams novel of the same name, this 1982 movie[‘s] . . . central plot concerns animal research . . . in an, ‘Oh, God. What are they doing to those animals?!’ sort of way.”
“Starting off in an English lab, our two protagonists are a labrador-mix named Rowf, and a fox terrier named Snitter. Rowf gets drowned over and over again, and then resuscitated to see the effects, and Snitter has his head all bandaged up since doctors are experimenting on his brain . . . But, it’s not just dogs being experimented on, as we see monkeys writhing in pain, rabbits chained up to their necks, and all manner of other awful experimentation.”
“Not only that, but remember how we all thought that incinerator scene in Toy Story 3 was incredibly dark for a Disney movie? You know, the scene where we wondered if the toys in this universe could actually die? Well, The Plague Dogs is all like, ‘hold my beer,’ as our heroes escape the facility by getting out of an incinerator, but it’s one in which dead dogs are thrown inside of it as if they’re nothing. I mean, could you get any more distressing?” 📰 Full Story →
USDA issues warning to Norfolk-based medical school over animal testing
Eliza Noe, The Virginian-Pilot, 4/8/2025
“The United States Department of Agriculture has sent a warning to the Eastern Virginia Medical School at Old Dominion University alleging research done in years prior using animals violated the Animal Welfare Act. Specifically, the warning notes issues in past research using chinchillas and monkeys.”
“According to the warning, several chinchillas were kept on a study despite ‘passing humane endpoints’ . . . The USDA also found the approved protocol planned for the chinchillas to be on the study for 21 weeks. However, medical records showed that some of the animals remained on the study for 21 months…”
“USDA inspectors also found that the researchers “failed to utilize appropriate methods” to treat medical issues during the experiments. Issues arose during IV insulin procedures, such as the death of one monkey and unresolved low blood sugar in others. One of the macaques was under anesthesia for more than four hours and did not receive medical care despite showing signs of hypoglycemia.” 📰 Full Story →
Animal research opponents ask DOGE to cut funding for Oregon National Primate Research Center
Amelia Templeton, OPB, 4/8/2025
“A Washington D.C.-based nonprofit is asking Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to immediately defund alcohol and cannabis experiments at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, a facility run by OHSU and funded by the National Institutes of Health . . . The research center received $56 million from the NIH in fiscal year 2024.”
“‘These funds are being misused to support studies that lack scientific merit and inflict avoidable pain and suffering on animals,’ [the non-profit] wrote in the complaint. The group is also asking that DOGE do a full review of the animal research program at the Center.” 📰 Full Story →
Zeldin to pursue new ban on animal testing at EPA
Stephen Dinan, The Washington TImes, 4/10/2025
“Administrator Lee Zeldin plans to revive a ban on animal testing at the Environmental Protection Agency . . . The EPA had pursued a phaseout of animal testing during the first Trump administration, but the Biden administration erased the deadlines [“saying they had become a needless point of contention”], effectively neutering the policy. Now Mr. Zeldin plans to put it back in place.”
“‘Reinstating the Trump EPA plan will save tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and spare countless dogs, rabbits and other animals from painful and unnecessary experiments that can be replaced with modern alternatives that are more effective than antiquated animal testing methods,’ [Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a New York Republican who has been prodding the EPA to revive the phaseout] said.”
“Mr. Zeldin, a former member of Congress, had a long history of supporting pro-animal legislation. He was a cosponsor of bills to stop experiments on dogs at the Veterans Affairs Department and to phase out animal testing for cosmetics. He also backed bills to forbid buying or selling shark fins, to create a federal crime for producing or distributing animal cruelty videos, and to ban both horse slaughter and the export of horses if intended for human consumption.” 📰 Full Story →
Researcher Defends Dog Torture, Has Lies Exposed on Camera
Rise for Animals, 4/10/2025
Late last week, FOX6 Milwaukee aired another damning investigation into Ridglan Farms — the Wisconsin-based breeder (and user) of dogs for experimentation.
And, in the face of public outrage, one animal researcher lunged to defend the indefensible. 📰 Full Story →