Here’s a roundup of this 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.
Dogs, Dog-Like Pigs, Ferrets Sold Into Torture
Rise for Animals, 8/5/2024
Marshall BioResources is infamous within the animal rights community for its breeding, neglect, torture, and killing of sentient beings, including dogs and ferrets. But, as it turns out, minipigs are also among its victims. 📰 Full Story →
Felony Charges for Activist Who ‘Glitter Bombed’ Interim Harvard President
Abby Patkin, 8/2/2024
“Brittany Drake could be heard shouting ‘for the baby monkeys!’ before she showered interim president Alan Garber with glitter ahead of his Alumni Day remarks on May 31 . . . she yelled, ‘For the animals in the labs! Harvard, shut down the baby monkey labs now!’”
“Drake is charged with three felonies: Assault and battery on a person over the age of 60, and two counts of malicious destruction of property over $1,200. She is also facing three misdemeanors, including disturbing a public assembly, trespassing, and disturbing the peace.” 📰 Full Story →
Watchdog Claims Victory Over Pentagon Animal Testing as Lawmakers Demand Accounting of Taxpayer Funds
Charles Creitz, 8/3/2024
“After several lawmakers criticized the Pentagon for sanctioning painful experiments on dogs, an animal-testing watchdog group said the Defense Department is only the latest agency to be exposed.”
“ . . . representatives Young Kim, R-Calif., and Donald Davis, D-N.C., led more than two dozen House members in demanding a specific accounting of how the Pentagon spent taxpayer money . . . in addition to the experimentation highlighted in June, Pentagon-sanctioned testing has also reportedly been ‘electroshocking’ cats to study erectile dysfunction.”
“Kim, the main signatory on the letter, said the Pentagon spent nearly $1 million on beagle testing alone . . . ‘The fact that this study was conducted despite DOD’s policy banning the use of dogs and cats for medical or surgical training and weapons development research shows we must continue to hold the administration’s feet to the fire and demand accountability,’ she said.” 📰 Full Story →
National Physicians Committee Pressures OHSU to End Animal Testing
Jashayla Pettigrew, 8/4/2024
“A national physicians group is denouncing Oregon Health and Science University’s use of live animals for medical training.”
“In the letter [sent by PCRM] to President Jacobs, the committee offered to fund the demonstration of a surgery simulator that is estimated to cost $13,000. The company behind the system asserts it gives trainees a hyper-realistic surgery experience – that mimics a human’s heartbeat and blood loss – without risking a subject’s life or harming them. The letter was coupled with a billboard above Interstate 5 North near OHSU’s lower campus. The billboard reads, ‘TOO WEIRD…EVEN FOR PORTLAND. OHSU: Stop Killing Pigs to Train Doctors.’” 📰 Full Story →
Nonprofit Files Official Complaint Against Virginia Tech Research Officials: Finds Evidence of Animal Abuse
Marshall LeMert, 8/6/2024
“Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) . . . has made an internal communication originating from officials working for Virginia Tech public. This communication to a federal funding agency from the university, saw confessions of negligence that led to the deaths of 15 bats in their research labs.”
“SAEN has filed an Official Complaint with the [USDA], alleging unqualified personnel, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and animal handling violations, all federal crimes.” 📰 Full Story →
Rescued Lab Pigs Find Sanctuary at Scio Farm
Alex Powers, 8/6/2024
“Inside the largest of red barns, in the fourth stall on the left, two pink fuzzy pigs pressed their noses to human visitors with uncharacteristically clean snouts. Max and Rocco are still learning how to root with their noses but by the end of their first week at Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary . . . the pigs had learned to dip themselves into wet earth.”
“‘They’ve never felt the sunshine on their skin before; never wallowed in the mud,’ . . . Max and Rocco were in cages before, held as test subjects for undisclosed experiments at an undisclosed laboratory.”
“By the end of the first week, Max and Rocco still shied away from humans or fled from sudden movements. ‘They’re a little bit more like, ‘My only experience with humans up until this point has not been so pleasant,’….” 📰 Full Story →
Cat Experiments Stopped at US Department of Veterans Affairs
Scott Taylor, 8/7/2024
“In a historic move, WJLA learned that scheduled cat experiments inside the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will no longer occur. Research has been halted including implanting experimental medical devices in seven cats’ backs and legs.”
“The new cat research at the VA was approved in 2022. Set to begin this year at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio . . . As recently as April, the cat experiment was listed on the VA’s animal research website under current research. White Coat noticed the project was suddenly removed from the VA website and 7News started asking questions.” 📰 Full Story →
WAN Exclusive: Groundbreaking Legislation Stops Cruel Primate Tests At The Department Of Veterans Affairs
WAN, 8/7/2024
“In June, Congress renewed bipartisan legislation restricting funding for research on dogs, cats, and primates at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)”, which “was first enacted in 2019” and “is already proving to be a game-changer for animals”.
“Records obtained by WCW through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) . . . showed that the VA quietly canceled a controversial $124,000 project aimed at inducing eye disorders in monkeys for research purposes.” 📰 Full Story →