Kategorie: Animals

Sports reporter and Miss Universe judge Emily Austin cowers as a gloved hand plunges a syringe into her back in a new PETA campaign calling out the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for its excessive funding of the disreputable national primate research centers (NPRCs), which subject sensitive monkeys to abusive treatment in painful experiments.

In an accompanying video, Austin pleads from the perspective of a monkey torn away from her mother, thrown into a shipping container, and sent to a laboratory, where experimenters drill into her skull and screw in a metal device, shove tubes into her body, deny her water, and forcibly impregnate her “over and over” so her babies will suffer in similar tests: “I howl in despair every time they’re pried from my arms. I miss and I grieve for my babies every day.”

“It’s too late for me but not for these other monkeys,” says Austin. “Please help end this abuse and speak out now to shut down the seven national primate research centers.”

NIH gives millions of taxpayer dollars to NPRCs so that they can pry baby monkeys away from their mothers, electroshock primates’ penises, force them to inhale tobacco smoke, and inject them with deadly pathogens. The facilities have racked up hundreds of animal welfare violations, yet after decades, the cruel tests haven’t delivered the promised vaccines for HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, and more. Monkeys have died from starvation, dehydration, strangulation, choking on their own vomit, scalding in a high-temperature cage washer, and veterinary error. NPRCs remain at Emory University, Oregon Health & Science University, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Tulane University, the University of California–Davis, the University of Washington, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post Influencer Emily Austin Takes a Shot at Monkey Labs in New PETA Campaign appeared first on PETA.

Documents and video obtained by PETA from the European organizations www.thecampbeagle.com and Anima Denmark reveal that thousands of dogs are being transported by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and others from the U.S. to laboratories around the world, including Charles River Laboratories, where they’re tormented and killed in pointless experiments.

PETA sent a letter urging SAS President and CEO Anko van der Werff to stop shipping dogs and highlighting that Marshall BioResources, where most of the dogs transported by SAS come from, breeds tens of thousands of dogs and other animals each year in factory-like warehouses. On any given day, the company houses more than 20,000 beagles and other dogs in its sheds.

“U.S. companies are packing beagles and other dogs like so much baggage and sending them to be killed in foreign laboratories,” says PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna. “PETA is calling for an end to this bloody business and is urging SAS to stop partnering with these cruel facilities by refusing to transport dogs to their deaths.”

Authorities have cited Marshall BioResources for confining dogs to unsanitary, dilapidated wire cages and for failing to provide adequate veterinary care in violation of federal law. While U.S. regulations require only that cages holding dogs must be large enough for them to stand up, sit down, lie down, and turn around, Marshall BioResources has failed to provide them with even that bare-minimum amount of space. Dogs have sustained injuries as a result.

Dogs from Marshall BioResources were sent to facilities operated by the notorious animal testing behemoth Charles River Laboratories in France, Hungary, and the Netherlands. And in the U.K., Charles River conducts painful tests on animals for companies that produce industrial chemicals, pesticides, food additives, and pharmaceuticals by force-feeding them test compounds, smearing experimental chemicals onto their shaved skin, and forcing them to inhale toxic substances.

Members of Congress concerned about U.S. funding allocated to overseas animal laboratories just introduced the bipartisan Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas (CARGO) Act, which would prohibit the National Institutes of Health from financing experiments on animals in foreign countries.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post VIDEO: PETA Exposes That Thousands of Dogs Are Being Sent to Foreign Labs appeared first on PETA.

Following a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report documenting that a pig remained conscious and crying out after being electrocuted and repeatedly shot in the head at USA Beef Packing near Roswell, PETA fired off a letter to the facility’s owner, Jose Alberto Madrid, calling on him to livestream video footage from the slaughterhouse to help prevent additional egregious violations of the law.

On July 22, a worker attempted to stun the pig with electricity, burning her nose but failing to render her unconscious. Two workers then shot the pig twice with a captive-bolt gun—missing her a third time—before finally stunning the screaming animal on the fourth shot.

“This pig endured agonizing electrocution and multiple shots to the head before these inept workers were finally able to end her suffering,” says PETA Vice President of Evidence Analysis Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling on this facility to livestream its slaughter operations publicly and reminds everyone that we can all stop this suffering by simply eating vegan.”

PETA has also asked Madrid to report the employees involved in the incident to local law-enforcement officials for possible violations of the state’s anti-cruelty statute and to reassign them to positions that don’t involve contact with live animals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and offers a free vegan starter kit on its website. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Madrid follows.

August 10, 2023

Jose Alberto Madrid

Owner

USA Beef Packing LLC

Dear Mr. Madrid:

Given the recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report detailing the botched killing of a pig at USA Beef Packing LLC, during which the animal was electroshocked and burned and then remained standing and crying out while a worker repeatedly shot her in the head, we ask that you immediately change operations there in the hope of reducing animal suffering in your slaughterhouse.

In light of the egregious pain and terror that your staff caused this pig to endure in violation of federal law, won’t you please stop slaughtering pigs? Rather than risking further, similar violations, you could focus on minimizing the stress and suffering of the other farmed animals you slaughter.

Will you please publicly livestream video from all areas of your facility where live animals are handled? Workers would take their duty to handle animals lawfully more seriously if they knew that caring people were watching. As the world’s foremost expert on livestock welfare, Dr. Temple Grandin, writes, “Plants [t]hat are doing a good job should show what they are doing.” Your industry often complains that today’s consumers don’t understand how animals are raised and killed for food. You could help by enabling us to observe your workers moving countless individual animals—who value their lives as we value ours—off crowded trucks in all weather, attempting to stun them, slashing or sticking their throats, and bleeding them to death.

At the very least, will you reassign your staff referenced in the federal report to jobs that don’t involve having contact with any live animals—such as evisceration, butchering, and packaging—and report the involved personnel to your local law-enforcement agency for investigation for possible violations of the state’s anti-cruelty statute?

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Colin Henstock

Investigations Project Manager

The post Pig Electrocuted, Repeatedly Shot in the Head at Local Slaughterhouse; PETA Seeks Kill-Floor Cameras appeared first on PETA.

While practicing routine drills, Super Bowl champion Tyrann Mathieu is stopped dead in his tracks—he’s chained to the goalpost. When he tries to break free, he’s snapped back. This is what dogs kept chained outdoors endure daily, but unlike our star, they never get a chance at freedom.

I’m free to leave the field when I’m done with practice. But dogs who are chained up don’t have that freedom.

—Tyrann Mathieu

Life on a chain or tether is torment for dogs, who are family-oriented social animals. Sentenced to be kept “out of sight, out of mind,” chained dogs are typically deprived of adequate food, water, and veterinary care—and their emotional and social needs are completely ignored. Many are denied proper shelter and have only an overturned trash bin or plastic barrel—or nothing at all—to shield them from the elements. Countless chained dogs have frozen to death during cold snaps or died of heatstroke on sweltering summer days. As Tyrann says, “[T]hey’re healthiest and happiest when they’re indoors with their families.”

For dogs, being chained is a life sentence without parole.

Tyrann was joined in the video by a well-loved pit bull named Lagertha, with whom he became instant friends. Unfortunately, not all pit bulls are so lucky: Instead of being treated like family, many are used as cheap burglar alarms or status symbols and kept outside on chains. Pit bulls are the most common victims of abuse and neglect, the breed found most frequently in animal shelters across the nation, and the most difficult dogs to place responsibly.

Given the cruel living conditions of chained dogs, it’s no surprise that they often break loose and attack unsuspecting passersby. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chained dogs are more likely to attack than dogs who were not tethered. They’re also more likely to bite due to chronic deprivation of basic necessities, lack of socialization, inadequate living space of only a few square feet, and the inability to flee from a perceived threat. Many communities have learned after serious, even fatal, attacks that chaining is not just an animal welfare issue—it’s also a matter of public safety.

Join Tyrann Mathieu and Help Unchain a Dog

If you know someone who keeps a dog outside, talk to them about it, and if it’s safe, offer to play with the dog and take them for walks. Bring treats and toys, which mean a lot to dogs who have little to do. Make sure they have adequate food, water, and shelter—all of which are required by law—and report abuse and neglect to authorities. Your call could mean the difference between life and death for an animal left outside.

Learn How You Can Help Chained Dogs in Your Community

The post Tyrann Mathieu Is Breaking Chains With His Latest PETA PSA appeared first on PETA.

If you eat fish, other animals—including whales and turtles—suffer and die, too. That’s the new message from PETA making waves on local pedicabs, pointing out that fish aren’t the only victims of the fishing industry—millions of other animals, known euphemistically as “bycatch,” also die on its hooks and in its nets every year.

“Dolphins, sea turtles, birds, sharks, and other animals are all collateral damage to fishers and big trawlers alike,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA reminds everyone that all aquatic animals deserve respect and that going vegan is the only way to eat sustainably.”

PETA notes that eating sea animals contributes to the decimation of ocean ecosystems. Worldwide, nearly 10% of marine species are at risk of extinction, and for many of the world’s 86 cetacean species, death by fishing gear is one of the biggest threats to survival.

Fish are now known to feel pain as acutely as mammals do, have long-term memories and the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror, and communicate with each other using squeaks, squeals, and other low-frequency sounds that humans can hear only with special instruments, yet they’re impaled, crushed, suffocated, or cut open and gutted, all while conscious. More fish are killed for food each year—billions in U.S. waters alone—than all other animals combined.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a list of delicious vegan fish options, such as Gardein’s f’sh filets, Sophie’s Kitchen’s Fish Fillets, and Good Catch Plant-Based Crab Cakes, as well as a free vegan starter kit.

The ads are on Charleston pedicabs through August and will pass by several seafood dining destinations in the downtown area.

For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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