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 “Smoke” Animals for Profit
Rise for Animals, 1/8/2025
Our friends at Animal Partisan have pulled another victim of animal research from the shadows, casting metaphorical sunlight upon both his face and the shamefully bad “science” for which he was exploited.
This time, our animal victim is recorded drinking from a newly-filled receptacle for more than three minutes straight after being found without access to water, and probably after he was forced to “smoke”. 📰 Full Story →
Today’s Animal Researchers White-Knuckle Ideas from 400 BCE
Rise for Animals, 1/8/2025
It’s true: The Western justification for exploiting nonhuman animals in biomedical research traces all the way back to ancient Greece. 📰 Full Story →
What you need to know about beauty products this Veganuary
Lara Owen, Independent, 1/3/2025
“With many of us kicking off the new year with health-focused resolutions or perhaps embracing Veganuary, there’s never been a better time to try some plant-based beauty.”
“Just like a vegan diet, vegan beauty includes products that avoid anything that has been tested on animals or contains animal-derived ingredients such as beeswax, gelatine, honey or squalene. ‘[Vegan] products are often created with cruelty-free principles, supporting ethical practices in the beauty industry,’….” 📰 Full Story →
Do Insects Feel Pain?
Shayla Love, The New Yorker, 1/5/2025
“Insects make up about forty per cent of all living species”, yet “[m]ost of us do not think much about their inner lives, and our laws do not usually consider their welfare. Insects are small, they don’t scream or bleed red, and many are considered pests; we tend to kill or mutilate them without pause . . . If humans seriously considered the possibility that insects are sentient . . . we would need a ‘completely different connection with the natural world.’”
“Gibbons and her colleagues ultimately found ‘strong evidence for pain’ in adult flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, and termites . . . bees and butterflies[] . . . show[ed] ‘substantial evidence’ for pain. ‘We found no good evidence that any insects failed [any of the eight criteria developed for the Sentience Act],’ the researchers wrote.” 📰 Full Story →
NIH funds animal experiments at NC universities
Brianna Kraemer, The Carolina Journal, 1/7/2025
“North Carolina Rep. Don Davis, NC-01, along with 12 other members of Congress have requested a government audit to examine federal agencies spending taxpayer dollars on painful dog and cat experiments, something top universities in North Carolina have conducted using federal funds.”
“An NIH-funded lab at UNC-Chapel Hill intentionally breeds hundreds of puppies to suffer from bleeding disorders . . . The project currently has a $10M NIH-funded contract (2019-2025). It received another $15.6 M from NIH for 1999-2019. Records indicate between 120-150 dogs are bred each year at the lab, and some dogs are bred to act as a ‘walking blood bank’ for ‘severe bleeders.’”
“‘Taxpayers have a right to know how much of their hard-earned money is being wasted by UNC and other labs to torture puppies and kittens in barbaric and outdated experiments,’….” 📰 Full Story →
PETA accepts invitation to visit UMass Amherst monkey lab
Beck Wehner, WWLP-22News, 1/7/2025
“[PETA] has accepted an invitation from Dr. Agnès Lacreuse to visit the Lacreuse Lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, “which has been a subject of controversy for years among students and animal rights activists. Lacreuse researches neurocognitive decline and health in relation to sex and aging using primates….”
“In an article in the UMass publication ‘The Daily Collegian’ . . . [Lacreuse] was quoted saying she would ‘welcome’ a visit from PETA to her lab….”
“‘Given the number of times university officials have ignored our requests to discuss our concerns about marmosets, as well as the resistance we have received from your laboratory to release any videos of the marmosets to PETA (as you know, PETA Is having to use the university to obtain public records), we are pleasantly surprised that you would welcome us into the laboratory…’ . . . [PETA] said in the letter . . . Lacreuse has yet to make a public response.” 📰 Full Story →
South Georgia D.A. files motion to intervene in one of the lawsuits involving primate facility
AJ Douglas, WTXL Tallahassee, 1/7/2025
“A new action is being taken by a South Georgian D.A. in an attempt to stop a controversial project from calling Bainbridge home . . . On December 31 South Georgia district attorney Joe Mulholland requested to intervene in a case filed by primate company Safe Human Medicine against the Decatur County- Bainbridge Industrial Development Authority.”
“‘[He] will finally get the chance to tell his truth about what happened to him. And how he was used in the judicial process in the beginning to get the bond passed,’….”
“Safer Human Medicine aims to bring a primate facility to the area where primates will be raised and later shipped to other facilities for research.” 📰 Full Story →
Judge appoints special prosecutor to investigate Ridglan Farms dog breeding facility
Jason Cuevas & Kyle Pozorski, Channel 3000, 1/9/2025
“Dane County Judge Rhonda Lanford appointed a special prosecutor to investigate alleged animal cruelty violations by Ridglan Farms”, which “breeds beagles for biomedical testing.”
“The order stems from a filing by Wayne Hsiung, Dane4Dogs, and Alliance for Animals that presented evidence of animal abuse at a evidentiary hearing Oct. 23. Six witnesses provided testimony against the breeder, including photos, documents, and video evidence.” 📰 Full Story →
Ridglan Farms to Be Investigated by the State, Judge Rules
Rise for Animals, 1/9/2025
Great news: Just yesterday, a judge ruled that a Special Prosecutor will be appointed to investigate Ridglan Farms, the enormous, notorious animal breeding and research facility in Wisconsin. 📰 Full Story →