Here’s a roundup of the 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.
Freedom for the Powerful. State-Funded Torture for the Rest.
Rise for Animals, 7/3/2025
Snapped spines. Mocked monkeys. Puppies killed on command. These are the harsh realities now exposed thanks to one courageous whistleblower.
For 544 days, Carlota Saorsa was undercover, documenting an animal research facility so hidden from the world she called it “The Bunker.” Now, her — and the animals’ — experiences are being revealed. 📰 Full Story →
Echoes of grief: Macaques appear to mourn their loved ones like humans do
University of Osaka, 6/26/2025
“The capacity to grieve for dying loved ones was long considered a uniquely human ability. But now, researchers from Japan have shown that humans are less unique in this respect than once thought.”
“ . . . Japanese macaques exhibit human-like responses to the deaths of their adult companions.” 📰 Full Story →
Lab Mice: Deep Reflections on Their Use in Invasive Research
Marc Bekoff, Psychology Today, 6/26/2025
“A new [book] addresses the importance of offering compassion to animals who are harmed and killed in research.”
“‘The title of my book is A Mouse in a Cage in order to get at the importance of seeing each individual being as an individual—not an exchangeable part of a population that could be a cage of mice, or a species of rat or even an occupation of workers like animal technician. I think it is harder to disrespect an individual; loss of dignity and compassion often happens when beings are deemed exchangeable parts of a more general population.’” 📰 Full Story →
John Paul Mitchell Class Certified in ‘Cruelty-Free’ Label Case
Elleiana Green, Bloomberg Law, 6/27/2025
“A lawsuit accusing John Paul Mitchell Systems of deceptively touting its hair care products as ‘cruelty-free’ and not tested on animals will proceed as a class action.”
“Judge Vince Chhabria of the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday certified a class of all California residents who purchased John Paul Mitchell hair products between May 1, 2015 and January 1, 2020 . . . Lead plaintiff Randall Heagney alleged in his complaint that the company tested imports into China on animals under the Chinese government’s requirements. The suit alleged that the company wasn’t exempt from this requirement, making its claims about being cruelty-free misleading.” 📰 Full Story →
Desperate Dogs Warehoused and Bred in Prison-Like Factory That Sells Them for Experimentation
PETA, 6/26/2025
“A grand jury has indicted Dr. Dawn Marie Gau on 17 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals. Gau was the attending veterinarian at Envigo’s Cumberland beagle factory farm, which supplied dogs to laboratories all over the world for experimentation.” 📰 Full Story →
Leaders at OHSU Primate Center Are Covering Up Animal Injuries and Deaths, PETA Says
Anthony Effinger, Willamette Week, 6/27/2025
“[PETA] has long hounded the Oregon National Primate Research Center [ONPRC] for the tests it performs on monkeys at its Hillsboro facility. Now, the animal rights group is claiming that the reality at the primate center is worse than anyone knew. Leaders at the center are failing to report animal deaths and serious injuries to federal regulators, PETA said in a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sent today.”
“PETA wrote to the USDA, which regulates animal laboratories, after whistleblowers at the center came forward with complaints about animal care and reporting, the organization said . . . ONPRC leaders have engineered a ‘deliberate and far-reaching cover-up,’ PETA wrote. Animal handlers at the center have been instructed to record ‘only the bare minimum about injuries to nonhuman primates,’ using language like ‘minor wounds,’….”
“‘The center is corrupt to the core,’ one of the whistleblowers said in an interview with WW. ‘The monkeys suffer because of a lack of morals.’” 📰 Full Story →
Dr. Fauci reveals grim fate of Morgan Island monkeys in letter to Congresswoman Nancy Mace
Marilyn W. Thompson, The Post & Courier, 6/27/2025
“According to Fauci, many Morgan Island monkeys were shipped in 2020 and 2021 to Rocky Mountain Laboratory, a high-security federal lab in a small Montana town that is a leading research center for infectious diseases. Scientists injected the monkeys with COVID-19, HIV, tuberculosis and other deadly viruses, then euthanized them at the end of studies.”
“ . . . Fauci’s letter exposed how ‘taxpayer-funded Monkey Island is the NIH’s primary pipeline to its most painful primate experiments across the country, accounting for half of all of the monkeys confined by the NIH.’” 📰 Full Story →
EPA staffers are trying to get people to adopt lab rats as Trump team shuts down research projects
Graig Gaziosi, The Independent, 7/1/2025
“EPA staff at a research office in North Carolina have launched an adoption campaign for their lab rats and zebrafish in response to cuts to its research projects introduced by the Donald Trump administration….”
“The EPA has about 20,000 animals in its labs, including rabbits, mice, and rats. The animals are generally used to gauge the safety of environmental pollutants. For those interested in having their own rat or zebrafish, the animals are available at the EPA’s Research Triangle complex in North Carolina, according to a report by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.” 📰 Full Story →
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