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.
Let’s Choose Rights and Justice for All in 2025
Rise for Animals, 12/30/2025
We don’t have to choose between human rights and animal rights — justice is for all of us! Let’s reject the false “us vs. them” narrative and fight for a future where no one suffers in the name of science. 📰 Full Story →
U.S. Government Spends Millions on Controversial Cat Torture Experiments
NATIONWIRE, 12/23/2024
“A recent report has brought to light disturbing details about taxpayer-funded experiments involving the torture of cats, sparking outrage over government spending practices.”
“The [DOD] reportedly spent $10.8 million on what has been described as an ‘Orwellian Cat Experiment’ conducted through the [DARPA] at the University of Pittsburgh. This experiment involved invasive procedures, including slicing open the backs of male cats to expose their spinal cords, followed by the insertion of electrodes to deliver electric shocks. The state purpose? To induce erections in the animals–a process carried out while their incisions remained open.”
“The cruelty escalated as researchers severed the cats’ spinal cords, rendering their lower bodies paralyzed, only to continue shocking them for up to 10 minutes. In another experiment funded by DARPA, electrodes were attached to cats’ spinal cords, while marbles and condom-like balloons were inserted into their rectums. These cats were shocked to force defecation–a process one animal endured for over 11 minutes.”
“The [NIH] . . . spent $1.5 million on a study that involved training female kittens to submit to being strapped onto a spinning hydraulic table. The goal was to study motion sickness. The animals were subjected to disorienting spins, exposed to bright lights, and injected with copper sulfate to induce vomiting.” 📰 Full Story →
EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of Animals Are Blown Up, Poisoned or Given Deadly Nerve Agent during ‘Barbaric’ Tests at Top Secret Military Laboratory
Tom Cotterill, Daily Mail, 12/27/2024
“More than 2,000 pigs, rabbits, monkeys, guinea pigs and mice have been killed in ‘barbaric’ experiments at the secretive Porton Down research base in Wiltshire [U.K.]. The figures cover the last three years and were revealed following a Freedom of Information request….”
“ . . . previous experiments have seen live pigs being shot and forced to inhale mustard gas, monkeys being infected with anthrax and guinea pigs being killed with nerve agent [sic].”
“‘It’s reprehensible that with the best technology in the world at its disposal and amid overwhelming public opposition to animal experimentation, the [Ministry of Defence] still fails to modernise.’” 📰 Full Story →
Dogs and Cats Among 106,000 Live Animals Used in Scientific Testing Last Year
Darragh Mc Donagh, Irish Mirror, 12/28/2024
“Dogs and cats were among more than 106,000 live animals used for scientific research and testing [in 2023], representing an increase of around 15 per cent . . . There was also a significant rise in the number of experiments involving ‘severe’ suffering for the test animals. These rose by almost 50 per cent….”
“‘The ethical crisis in Irish labs is highlighted by the fact that the increase in numbers and severity is largely down to an expansion in the testing of Botox’-type products, most of which are suspected of being destined for cosmetic use,’….”
“Botox is a brand of botulinum, which is a powerful biological poison as well as an anti-wrinkle injection. Each batch is tested on groups of mice, which are given different doses to determine the dose at which half of the test subjects die. The half that survive are euthanised anyway.” 📰 Full Story →
Editorial: You Don’t Have to Oppose Animal Testing to Worry About Yemassee Monkey Farm
Editorial Staff, Post & Courier, 12/28/2024
“Animal testing is not for the weak of heart. Even for those of us who consider it a necessary evil, there’s something disturbing about the fact that there are commercial facilities in South Carolina that profit from breeding primates for testing.”
“Whether we support, oppose or find ourselves torn by animal testing, we all should be able to condemn the third major escape in a decade, the most recent deaths of still-undetermined cause and the alleged carelessness that critics say resulted in suffering and more needless deaths over the years.” 📰 Full Story →
Commentary: It’s Been a Banner Year for Animals
Heather Moore [PETA], The Mercury, 12/30/2024
“Small animals scored several massive wins this year. The [NIH] stopped funding the most common type of sepsis experiments on mice. This will spare countless animals from being injected with toxins, force-bed bacteria or made to inhale bacterial ‘slurry’ and suffering shock, multiple organ failure and agonizing deaths. It’s a victory for science, as well: Sepsis doesn’t affect humans as it does mice, which is why some 150 drugs have treated sepsis in mice, but every single one has failed in human trials.”
“ . . . pharmaceutical giant Sanofi joined many others in banning the forced swim test – in which mice, hamsters, rats and other small animals are dropped into beakers of water to see how long they’ll swim before giving up.” 📰 Full Story →
In case you missed it:
A Grateful Look Back on 2024 and a Look Ahead to 2025
Rise for Animals, 1/2/2025
As we stand on the threshold of a new year, we’re taking a moment to pause, reflect, and, most importantly, thank you for your support of our work to free animals from laboratories. 📰 Full Story →