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 Strangle and Sexually Violate Animals
Rise for Animals, 2/24/2025
Instead of directing every available resource toward preventing intimate partner violence and supporting its survivors, governments around the globe pay animal researchers to recreate “violent, criminal acts” in the lab — on animals. 📰 Full Story →
Mice seen giving ‘first aid’ to unconscious companions
Chris Simms, NewScientist, 2/20/2025
“When they find another mouse unconscious, some mice seemingly try to revive their companion by pawing at them, biting and even pulling their tongue aside to clear their airways. The finding hints that caregiving behaviour might be more common in the animal kingdom than we thought.”
“‘They start with sniffing, and then grooming, and then with a very intensive or physical interaction,’ says Zhang. “They really open the mouth of this animal and pull out its tongue.’”
“Zhang and his colleagues think the behaviour is innate rather than learned, partly because all of the tested animals were just 2 to 3 months old and hadn’t seen this behavior or anaesthetised cage mates before . . . Seeing this behavior in wild mice might be hard [because ‘[m]ice are prey animals’ who ‘hide quite well from us humans.’] ‘But [the fact] that we don’t see it does not mean that they don’t do it.’” 📰 Full Story →
Ex-NIH Director Concealed Problems with ‘Pointless’ Baby Monkey Abuse Studies, Kept Funding Them Anyway
Emily Kopp, Daily Caller, 2/21/2025
“Former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins used a private email to discuss an NIH lab’s history of traumatizing baby monkeys as he sought to contain a brewing scandal and kept funding the experiments to save face despite knowing they had little scientific value, previously unreported emails show.”
“The controversial experiments in question induced mental illness in baby rhesus macaques in a manner meant to mimic childhood abuse. Video footage of the experiments shows the monkeys shrieking in distress. In one clip a researcher can be heard laughing.”
“The scientist [contacted by former NIH Director Francis Collins] replied that the experiments traumatizing baby monkeys [‘with loud noises, humans in masks, and by rendering the young monkeys’ mothers incapacitated’] only resulted in already obvious conclusions and that modern techniques on human subjects were more accurate . . . Separately, a prominent scientist [who directed the National Institute of Mental Health for 13 years] told Hudson the experiment should be phased out.”
“Despite the animal cruelty and the feedback from scientists that the research had little scientific value, NIH prioritized Collins’s reputation. NIH kept the experiments running.” 📰 Full Story →
One Year Free From Cruelty: Beagle Freedom Project Celebrates Anniversary of Closing Animal Testing Laboratory
Dr. Karyn Kanowski, Dogster, 2/25/2025
“Just over 12 months ago, BFP successfully completed a three-year project to close a large-scale laboratory, eliminating a major portion of toxic flea and tick testing in the United States and freeing more than 150 animals from a life of captivity and cruelty.”
“In February 2024, BFP Freedom Fields [a “30-acre sanctuary and rehabilitation center” built “[o]n the very ground that was once a place of such misery and torture”] . . . ‘was founded on the promise that animal testing survivors would no longer be kept in the dark,’….”
“The first anniversary of Freedom Fields will be celebrated alongside the launch of their ‘Bring Them Home’ campaign, in support of the dogs recently rescued from animal testing and the horrors of the meat trade. At the focus of the campaign are the 55 beagles who spend their lives in cold laboratories, subjected to cruel and painful tests, only to be discarded to the meat trade.” 📰 Full Story →
The Men Who Stare at Mice
Sholto David, For Better Science, 2/26/2025
“As Trump and his team move to apparently slash NIH funding, (or perhaps not, depending on who you listen to), much noise has been made about the value of NIH funded science, and their wise allocation of public money to vital research . . . So let’s take a look at some of the crackhead troops on the front line of NIH funded cancer research, and see how they have been spending these precious funds.”
“From 2019 through to as recently as December 2024 [Dr. Lorenzo Cohen] has published a series of research papers and abstracts on the subject of ‘Biofield therapy’. What is ‘Biofield therapy’? Well… it seems to be just another name for magic . . . ‘This study sought to test the proposition that exposure to Sean L. Harribance (SLH), a purported healer [and psychic], could modulate cancer cell growth….’”
The mice were “implanted with mouse cancer cells which grow into tumours. The point of this experiment was to test if Harribance can slow the growth of these tumours by waving his arms around the mice and staring at them. Unbelievably the authors write that ‘All animal experiments were approved by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.’ How can it possibly be ethical to give mice cancer, and try to cure them with psychic powers? The mice were put out of their misery after five or six sessions, the results were unsurprisingly written up in Harribance’s favour.” 📰 Full Story →
News 3 Now Investigates: Ridglan Farms Under Fire
Kyle Pozorski, Channel 3000, 2/26/2025
“For many years, beagle breeder Ridglan Farms has faced public accusations of animal cruelty taking place inside their Blue Mounds facility . . . Ridglan Farms has largely remained private and refrains from speaking directly to the media. The facility, located at 10489 W Blue Mounds Rd, is highly secure and tucked the distance of a football field away from the road. There are many signs warning against trespassing posted around the property. In addition, a tall fence with razor wire surrounds the farm’s half-dozen barns. And further blocking the main entrance is a secure gate preventing vehicles from entering.”
“Ellie Hansen, an advocate against dog research, says a push towards changing the way testing and research is done will ultimately lead to dog breeders like Ridglan ceasing to operate. ‘It’s just a matter of changing the regulator system in this country, basically the FDA to have them update their policies to make these technologies mainstream,’ says Hansen.” 📰 Full Story →
50+ Unethical Beauty Brands to Avoid
Diane Small, Eluxe Magazine, 2/27/2025
“ . . . there are some countries — namely, the USA, where there’s very little regulation — or even transparency — about beauty brands. Meaning we beauty bunnies need to do our own research!”
“It’s hard to believe. But according to PETA, in 2025, there are still loads of beauty brands testing on animals. And the worst part? Many of these brands are considered cruelty-free!” 📰 Full Story →
Look Into Their Eyes — And Dare to Look Away
Rise for Animals, 2/27/2025
March 1 is National Pig Day, a day meant to honor these social, intelligent, playful, gentle, sensitive beings. But how does the animal research industry “celebrate” pigs? By incarcerating them. By torturing them. By reducing them to tools for profit.
Today, we’d like you to meet four unnamed porcine victims who remind us that violence and suffering is part and parcel of everything that happens to animals inside animal research facilities. 📰 Full Story →