Kategorie: Animals

PETA is urging Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) to end a study in which live babies were repeatedly cut out of five pregnant baboons—in violation of federal law—and to release its surviving victims to a reputable sanctuary. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which cited EVMS for the violation, recently went a step further and revoked permission for experimenters to conduct the multiple major surgeries on these primates—a rare step for the agency.

A baboon in a cage at EVMS rocks back and forth in psychological distress. Image obtained from this video by PETA through the Virginia Public Records Act

Documents obtained by PETA show that for over 40 years, experimenters at EVMS and their colleagues at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, with whom they share a federal grant, have impregnated baboons, injected them with hormones, and cut out and killed their babies at various stages of pregnancy. Documents obtained by the group show that hundreds of mother baboons and their babies have been used in these experiments and killed by the two schools. The studies, funded with tax dollars, have not resulted in any treatments for humans.

In 2021, the USDA cited the school for illegally performing up to six cesarean sections per female baboon without scientific justification or approval, as required under the federal Animal Welfare Act. In 2022, the agency then granted EVMS an exemption to the law, allowing it to do multiple cesarean sections if it followed basic experimental protocol—which it failed to do.

But the USDA withdrew its exemption after citing the school for, among other issues, failing to provide treatment to a 16-year-old baboon named Jemma (“ID #26876”) found unresponsive in her cage. She had already been subjected to two prior cesarean sections. Two days after she had been found unresponsive, she was subjected to a third cesarean section. Jemma’s daughter, who was near full term, was killed immediately after the surgery.

“EVMS has illegally and repeatedly cut into Jemma and the other baboons again and again for a pointless study that hasn’t helped a single human,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “EVMS must end four decades of suffering now and send the surviving animals to a sanctuary.”

EVMS has a yearslong record of federal animal welfare violations—including at least eight in recent years, four of which were “critical” (i.e., having a serious or severe adverse effect on the health and well-being of an animal), and one pertaining to the baboon experiments classified as “repeat.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post Eastern Virginia Medical School Violated Law in Baboon Pregnancy Study; PETA Calls For End to Experiments appeared first on PETA.

A Compassionate Fire Department Award is on its way from PETA to Vashon Island Fire & Rescue in recognition of rescuers’ bravery and determination in saving a dog who had fallen 100 feet down a cliff and become trapped on a small ledge near KVI Beach on Tuesday.

Firefighters responded to a call from the dog’s guardian, who said that her dog, Kirby, had gotten ahead of her during a walk and fallen down the steep cliffside. First responders performed a high-angle rope rescue. Firefighter Ben Steele, using a harness and rope system, rappelled down to Kirby, who was fitted with a rescue harness and escorted safely to the beach below. Kirby was unharmed.

In a Facebook post about the rescue, Vashon Island Fire & Rescue said that its mission is “to provide compassionate care to the entire island, including our four-legged friends.”

“These courageous firefighters didn’t hesitate to spring into action and save this frightened dog from a terrifying and perilous predicament,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA hopes their brave actions inspire people everywhere to step up and help when they see an animal in need.”

The department will receive a framed certificate and vegan chocolates from PETA.

PETA reminds all dog guardians to keep their animal companions near them on walks using a leash and a comfortable, secure harness and to keep a close eye on them when they’re outdoors.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post Vashon Firefighters Nab PETA Award for Rescuing Dog Stranded on Cliffside After 100-Foot Fall appeared first on PETA.

“Greg Maffei Has Dogs’ Blood on His Hands!” That’s the message PETA supporters will bring to Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei’s Englewood home on Monday in the wake of the Iditarod deaths of Bog, George, and Henry, three young dogs who collapsed and died within about 48 hours of one another while being forced to race. The dog defenders will shout their call for Maffei to end his company’s shameful sponsorship of the deadly race.

When:    Monday, March 18, 6 p.m.

Bog’s musher was caught on camera attempting to force him to his feet in order to make him keep running. In addition, a dog used by notorious musher Dallas Seavey was critically injured by a moose and musher Erin Altemus admitted that the dogs she was forcing to race were “mentally at their edge” and that some were limping and had shoulder injuries, including one who was carried in a bag to a checkpoint.

“Three dogs were just run to their deaths, and Liberty Media and Greg Maffei have their blood on their hands,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “The Iditarod continues only because of the quarter-million dollars funneled to it by Liberty Media, and PETA is calling on Maffei to put this money toward a good cause, not a despicable race that runs dogs into the ground.”

More than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod since it began, with aspiration pneumonia (caused by inhaling their own vomit) the top cause. Up to half the dogs who start the race don’t finish it. During last year’s Iditarod, approximately 175 dogs were pulled off the trail due to exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes, leaving the remaining ones to work even harder. The race ended in controversy after the winner was caught on video dragging exhausted dogs toward a checkpoint.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post Dog Defenders to Descend on Liberty CEO’s Home Over Iditarod Deaths appeared first on PETA.

Attendees of the National Institute of Mental Health’s (NIMH) 75^th anniversary symposium will be met with a shocking sight on the steps of the National Archives Museum on Monday: a gigantic inflatable spider accompanied by dozens of PETA supporters, who will demand an end to cruel taxpayer-funded tests on monkeys conducted by government experimenters including Elisabeth Murray.

Where:     In front of the National Archives Museum, 701 Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C.

When:     Monday, March 18, 12 noon

In Murray’s “monkey fright” experiments, she cuts into monkeys’ heads, saws off part of their skulls, and suctions out a portion of their brain or partially destroys it with toxic chemical injections. She then frightens the monkeys with realistic-looking fake spiders and snakes. In other experiments, she implants thick titanium posts in their skulls. She cages monkeys alone in her laboratory for years or even more than a decade, condemning them to social isolation that causes profound psychological and physiological distress. When she’s finally finished tormenting them, she kills them. Despite having failed to produce even one treatment or cure for humans, she has received more than $50 million in taxpayer funding since 1998.

“For decades, a government experimenter has mutilated monkeys’ brains, then purposely terrified them in pointless tests that do nothing to advance human health,” says PETA neuroscientist Dr. Katherine Roe. “PETA is calling on NIMH to stop pouring taxpayers’ money into monkey torment and commit to funding ethical, effective, animal-free research instead.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post Giant ‘Spider’ Coming to NIMH Symposium to Expose Grotesque Monkey Fright Experiments appeared first on PETA.

The post Enough Monkey Business! Tell FOX: Exploiting Real Animals on ‘Animal Control’ Isn’t Funny appeared first on PETA.