Kategorie: Animals

Please see the following statement from Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, PETA’s senior science advisor on primate experimentation, concerning just-released critical violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act at the University of Puerto Rico’s Caribbean Primate Research Center that involved the deaths of four monkeys due to neglect and incompetence. One monkey was found dead in her cage after the center failed to provide her with medical treatment. Two other monkeys were found dead in their cages—but the university failed to determine what caused their deaths. A fourth monkey was euthanized after sustaining traumatic injuries inflicted by other likely stressed monkeys with whom he had been caged. And a fifth monkey escaped from his enclosure and caused injuries to other monkeys. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s inspection report, these incidents occurred during the university’s Union incident in February when only four of the total 20 employees responsible for providing the monkeys with care were able to enter the facility. However, the violations also suggest systemic problems at the facility—including failing to ensure that monkeys who were caged together were compatible and failing to adhere to standard veterinary practices, which would have included determining the two monkeys’ cause of death.

The citations issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture won’t undo the pain and trauma endured by the four monkeys who died in the University of Puerto Rico’s laboratories, but they demonstrate that the school shouldn’t be trusted with even one more penny of taxpayer funding for experiments on animals. PETA has filed a complaint with the National Institutes of Health, calling on it to turn off the money spigot to the university.

The revelation of the monkeys’ agonizing deaths in their small, barren cages coincides with the participation of Dr. Melween Martinez, director of the Caribbean Primate Research Center (CPRC), in a national workshop on primate experimentation—at which the assembled committee called for more monkeys for experimentation. However, it is amply clear that the CPRC is incapable of adhering to minimum animal welfare standards for the 2,300 monkeys presently imprisoned at the facility. Adding more monkeys to this population would only increase the misery these sensitive and intelligent animals endure.

PETA is calling on the university to modernize its research program by leaving cruel, archaic, and unreliable experiments on animals behind and using only sophisticated, human-relevant research methods. PETA is also calling on Emory University, Oregon Health & Science University, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Tulane University, the University of California–Davis, and the University of Washington to do the same and to sever any ties with the University of Puerto Rico in order to avoid complicity in the neglect and suffering documented at the CPRC.

For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

To help combat the deadly homeless-animal overpopulation crisis, PETA Latino hosted its biggest spay/neuter event to date, in Cancún, Mexico.

With the help of local shelter Dirección de Protección y Bienestar Animal, 500 local dogs and cats were given free spay/neuter surgeries in just five days. Meat-free meals, goodies, and vegan starter kits were available during all five days to thank attendees for getting their animal companions sterilized. Here are some of the animals who attended the event with their guardians:

Why Should You Have Your Animal Companion Spayed or Neutered?

Unlike humans, dogs and cats can’t do their own family planning. It’s up to their guardians to make the responsible choice to have them spayed or neutered in order to help curb the companion animal overpopulation crisis. However, sometimes resources aren’t accessible or even available. That’s why PETA Latino is putting in the work to reduce the number of homeless animals and help care for dogs and cats in need.

How PETA Clinics Help Mitigate the Homeless-Animal Crisis

In just one year, an unspayed cat can give birth to 12 kittens and an unspayed dog can give birth to 16 puppies—which means that PETA’s Cancún event may have prevented the birth of more than 6,000 animals in the next 12 months alone. On any given day in the U.S., there are roughly 70 million homeless animals struggling to survive. The number of homeless animals around the world is almost unfathomable.

Funding for temporary sterilization clinics like PETA Latino’s in Cancún helps limit the suffering of animals for generations, as fewer unsterilized dogs and cats mean fewer animals born into communities that don’t have the resources to care for them. Please help us limit the continued suffering of homeless and vulnerable animals: