One Lab, 495 Painful Animal Deaths, Zero Resulting Cures
495 lives were stolen over the course of a single year in the University of Pittsburgh’s laboratories. For nothing.
The 495 beings were cats, ferrets, monkeys, hamsters, rabbits, and shrews, each one deserving of free will and their natural environments. Instead, they were forced to endure the pointless proddings of gloved human hands. Not a single cure for humankind resulted from the cruel deaths of these animals.
The records we received from the University of Pittsburgh confess every single one of these 495 animals experienced pain or discomfort that went intentionally unrelieved throughout experimentation. Animals experienced things like purposeful spinal cord injuries, deliberate respiratory distress, forced vomiting and nausea—all while experimenters stood back and denied relief of their pain. Below, you can see what each of these animals endured before they were euthanized.
9 Cats Killed
6 Cats: Forced to ingest copper sulfate so experimenters could observe their nausea and vomiting
Status: All 6 denied pain relief, killed
3 Cats: Given intentional spinal cord injuries so experimenters could watch their resulting urinary bladder dysfunction
Status: All 3 denied pain relief, killed
159 Ferrets Killed
30 Ferrets: Infected with influenza A virus
Status: All 30 denied pain relief, killed
10 Ferrets: Forced to vomit while experimenters monitored their nausea and gastrointestinal response
Status: All 10 denied pain relief, killed
81 Ferrets: Infected with the flu and Strep so experimenters could observe their respiratory response
Status: All 81 denied pain relief, killed
18 Ferrets: Used to develop a ferret model of encephalitis
Status: All 18 denied pain relief, killed
20 Ferrets: Used to develop a ferret model of COVID-19
Status: All 20 denied pain relief, killed
119 Hamsters Killed
70 Hamsters: Used to test COVID-19 antibody preparations from transchromosomic cows
Status: All 70 denied pain relief, killed
49 Hamsters: Used to test alphavirus-based nucleic acid replicon vaccines and licensed 17D yellow fever virus vaccines
Status: All 49 denied pain relief, killed
63 Monkeys Killed
22 Cynomolgus macaques: Infected with the flu while experimenters watched their acute respiratory distress syndrome
Status: All 22 denied pain relief, killed
27 Cynomolgus macaques: Infected with alphaviruses so experimenters could watch their clinical symptoms
Status: All 27 denied pain relief, killed
8 African green monkeys: Infected with COVID-19
Status: All 8 denied pain relief, killed
6 African green monkeys: Infected with COVID-19 via aerosolization
Status: All 6 denied pain relief, killed
116 Rabbits Killed
32 Rabbits: Exposed to a virulent strain of Francisella tularensis
Status: All 32 denied pain relief, killed
84 Rabbits: Given orthopedic infections causing pain and osteomyelitis (bone-swelling)
Status: All 84 denied pain relief, killed
29 Musk Shrews Killed
29 Musk Shrews: Used for experimenters to observe vomiting and nausea
Status: All 29 denied pain relief, killed
Not one of these 495 deaths determined a new cure for any human ailment.
Worse, this data illustrates experiments on animals at just ONE research facility. There are thousands of labs conducting cruel, unnatural, unnecessary experiments like these across the country. The University of Pittsburgh offers just a snapshot of the country’s vast waste of animals’ lives. But it also demonstrates an inarguable waste of your tax-payer dollars, scientists’ time, and valuable resources. Modern alternatives to animal testing promise more efficient, less expensive science that will lead to a safer, healthier future for people and animals.
Your federal tax-dollars helped pay for these wretched experiments—meaning YOU have the power to demand accountability from the University of Pittsburgh.
Zero cures resulted from these experiments. We need your help to challenge the university’s experimenters to justify the painful deaths of all 495 thinking, caring, feeling animals.
They need to prove human cures came from inflicting pain and watching these 495 animals suffer until they were so broken they had to be killed. Since we pay for these experiments with our tax dollars, it’s the least they can do.