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.
Animal Researchers Taught to Lie to Us to Reduce Opposition
Rise for Animals, 4/4/2025
The animal research industry trains its scientists to deceive the public — teaching them to manipulate language, obscure ethical concerns, and distort facts — to maintain support for a system built on suffering and profit. We’ve fact-checked a recent propaganda-filled presentation by one industry group: 📰 Full Story →
OHSU Research Head Briefs Staff on Pressure from Kotek to Close Primate Center
Anthony Effinger, Willamette Week, 3/27/2025
“Peter Barr-Gillespie, chief research officer at Oregon Health & Science University, held an emergency meeting with staff today to brief them on pressure leaders are getting from Gov. Tina Kotek to close the Oregon National Primate Research Center . . . Kotek is getting email from constituents who want the state to block OHSU’s acquisition of Legacy Health unless it closes the center, Barr-Gillespie told the group at OHSU’s West Campus in Beaverton, where the primate center is located. . . ”
“‘While the governor has very limited authority under Oregon law to weigh in on the proposed merger, she does believe that OHSU should figure out how to close its primate research center, just like Harvard University did 10 years ago,’ . . . ‘The governor has directly advocated for OHSU leadership to complete their current research obligations and move towards shutting the center down in a humane and responsible manner.” 📰 Full Story →
Animal rights group condemns TTUHSC for alleged neglect, abuse leading to 11 animal deaths
Mateo Rosiles, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 3/28/2025
“An animal rights group is calling upon the president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center to impose severe penalties against the university researcher whose alleged negligence and abuse led to the death of 11 animals . . . during a federally funded research trial.”
“Other findings include: ‘Gross miscalculation’ of the experimental compound given to the mice . . . Initial surgical procedures were ‘performed with non-sterile instruments including the thread that is inserted into an artery.’ ‘Utilizing wounded animals under treatment or monitoring for surgical procedures’ . . . Improper ways of housing the mice after surgery ‘leading to fighting and animal injury….’….” 📰 Full Story →
Wisconsin puppy mill beagles suffer for human drug research
Bryan Polcyn, FOX6 Milwaukee, 3/30/2025
“More than 4,000 beagle puppies are born every year on a remote Wisconsin farm about 30 minutes west of Madison. Some of them never leave. Records provided to FOX6 Investigators by a Ridglan Farms whistleblower show nearly 7% of the puppies born each year (275 beagles) die while still at Ridglan.”
“Even for the dogs that make it out of Ridglan Farms . . . the future is bleak.” For example, in a tick-borne disease study at the University of Missouri, “researchers shaved the beagles’ fur to allow tick containment chambers to be glued directly to their skin. Those chambers were then filled with disease-ridden ticks that were allowed to ‘acquisition feed’ on the dogs for several days. If the beagles tried to remove the chambers, researchers would stop them by placing an Elizabethan collar (commonly referred to as a ‘cone of shame’) around the neck . . . In the end, 22 of the 40 dogs were sick enough that researchers decided the most ‘humane’ thing to do was to have them euthanized . . . A pair of experiments (toxicity study; dosage study) at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago subjected 38 Ridglan beagles to forced inhalation of an experimental COVID-19 drug. The tests were intended to determine the maximum dose the dogs could withstand. After 15 days, all 38 dogs were euthanized.” 📰 Full Story →
Patients are human: challenging animal experiments in medical research
Eurogroup for Animals, 3/31/2025
“A common misconception suggests that patients with severe illnesses support animal experiments in the hope of finding a cure. But the reality is different. Many patients are speaking out against the cruelty and shortcomings of animal experiments.”
“This is the driving force behind Patients are Human, a campaign by Doctors Against Animal Experiments (DAAE) that gives a voice to those who oppose animal experiments, even in the face of serious diagnoses. Through social media, the campaign has introduced real patients who reject animal experiments for ethical and scientific reasons . . . Each of these patients highlights the shortcomings of animal-based research in their respective fields.” 📰 Full Story →
NIH bans six Chinese labs from animal experiments with U.S. funding
Stephen Dinan, Washington Times, 4/1/2025
“The [NIH] has quietly booted a Chinese lab that performed grisly experiments on beagles from its list of facilities approved for animal experiments using U.S. taxpayer money. Sun Yat Sen University is one of six Chinese labs to have been removed from the list since December amid a Trump administration and NIH housecleaning. The latest to go is China Medical University, axed from the list sometime in the past week.”
“Twenty-one Chinese labs remain on the list [“of labs, domestic and foreign, that are approved for animal testing using American taxpayer money”] . . . NIH has not said why it booted the labs or why others remain.” 📰 Full Story →
Opinion: Trump is right about transgender animal tests
Dr. Sujatha Ramakrishna, The Washington Times, 4/1/2025
“As a pediatric psychiatrist who treats transgender children, I’ve been closely following the controversy over ‘transgender mice.’ President Trump’s claims are true, and ending this wasteful spending will benefit humans and lab animals.”
“I’ve provided medical care for many transgender children over the past several years. They are a diverse group of patients dealing with a wide range of psychological and physical issues. There is no way an artificially created ‘transgender mouse model’ can begin to represent the challenges these children face. That didn’t stop NIH from funding a horrific animal study at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, purportedly to investigate the effects of puberty blockers on the physical and mental health of transgender adolescents. In this experiment, mice that had received injections of puberty blockers were subjected to extreme stress, including electric shocks and swimming until they drowned. They were killed after being subjected to this cruel treatment, and their brains were cut out. This inhumane animal study was partly funded by a federal grant meant to ‘promote diversity in health-related research.’ That money would have been far more helpful to transgender adolescents if it had been spent on research of real situations that they face in their everyday lives, none of which can be accurately represented by oversimplified ‘models’ using intentional animal torture.”
“There’s no reason that Mr. Trump and his detractors should be fighting about this one. Everyone should be celebrating efforts to eliminate the abuse of animals in outdated and useless taxpayer-funded experiments.” 📰 Full Story →
Billboards target Wayne State’s ‘cruel’ dog experiments, urge lawmakers to take action
Steve Neavling, Detroit Metro Times, 4/2/2025
“A new round of billboards in Lansing and Detroit is calling on Michigan lawmakers to outlaw painful dog experiments at Wayne State University and pass legislation known as Queenie’s Law.”
“Since 1991, the [NIH] has spent about $15 million on the university’s canine research that has produced no usable results, according to the Physicians Committee [for Responsible Medicine, which is funding the campaign].” 📰 Full Story →
Monkeys by the Numbers: An Indexed Take on the Fight Over OHSU’s Primate Center
Anthony Effinger, Willamette Week, 4/1/2025
“For years, animal rights activists have argued that Oregon Health & Science University should shutter its primate center—a de facto monkey ranch bounded by Beaverton subdivisions—because using primates for medical research is archaic, unnecessary and cruel. Now, with OHSU seeking state approval to buy Legacy Health, groups . . . are making a business case against the place.”
“Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, is tackling the economics most directly. In a letter to a volunteer group of Oregonians advising the state on whether the crosstown merger of OHSU and Legacy Health should go through, Barnard compares the Oregon National Primate Research Center to retailer Macy’s, whose real estate is worth more than its business. OHSU land and buildings in and around the primate center are worth $230 million, Barnard says. ‘Closure of the primate facility will release substantial resources that can be used for patient care and other programs,’ Barnard wrote….” 📰 Full Story →
Troubles mount for Ridglan Farms
Bill Lueders, Isthmus, 4/3/2025
“ . . . Veterinary Examining Board’s interim disciplinary counsel, Helen E. Kennebeck, urged the board to suspend [Ridglan veterinarian Richard] Van Domelen’s veterinary license ‘immediately and without hearing.’” But, “the Veterinary Examining Board voted, unanimously and without discussion, against suspending Van Domelen’s license. It then voted again unanimously and without discussion, to enter into a stipulation that Van Domelen had agreed to. The stipulation restricts when and how Ridglan Farms can perform surgeries including cherry-eye removal, dental extractions, spayings and neuterings, and it directs that the discontinued practice of cutting dog’s vocal cords ‘not be done.’”
Ridglan Farm’s attorney “said the facility had recently increased its staffing from 16 to 19 employees, which meant that it was now able to provide at least ‘a full minute’ of socialization contact per dog per day.” 📰 Full Story →
Animal Researchers Insult Us All with Lies About Insulin
Rise for Animals, 3/31/2025
Animal researchers falsely claim that insulin was discovered through dog experiments, but history proves that human observation and research — not animal testing — led to key diabetes breakthroughs. 📰 Full Story →
The Latest Non-Animal & Human-Relevant Research News
Rise for Animals, 4/2/2025
Check out 3D-printed tissues, lab-grown complete human mini-hearts, AI-driven toxicology breakthroughs, and more! 📰 Full Story →