Kategorie: Animals

According to a motion just filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has discovered that Envigo intends to sell more than 2,200 beagles between now and July 2023—in stark contrast to the company’s June 13 representations to Senior U.S. District Court Judge Norman K. Moon that it wished to sell “more than 500” dogs in the ensuing 30 days. Only four of the more than 90 contracts for dogs the DOJ has reviewed identify the defendant in the case, Envigo RMS LLC, as supplying the dogs—nearly every contract identifies a different Envigo entity, whose federal license does not cover the 2,200 dogs whose fates are at stake. Envigo wants to sell more than 1,200 beagles to customers overseas after emphasizing to Moon that its facility played a significant role in the U.S. domestic industry of breeding beagles for experimentation. The DOJ has asked Moon to clarify how his June 17 order in the case applies to these points and, thus, the dogs’ fates.

The $330 million company’s move comes despite the vigorous objections of the DOJ and 29 Virginia legislators who urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to exercise its authority under the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and suspend Envigo’s license in light of its 74 AWA violations in 10 months. In late March, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) called on the USDA to “immediately suspend the license of the Envigo breeding facility.” USDA action would have prevented these beagles from being used in painful experiments and killed and thousands of other beagles from being subjected to ongoing cruel and unlawful conditions.

“Inotiv, Envigo’s parent company, admits that less than 1% of its revenue is generated by this business, yet it insists on shipping more than 2,000 of these long-neglected beagles to laboratories around the globe, where holes may be drilled in their skulls, chemicals may be injected into their brains, and their eyes may be burned, among other forms of torment,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “The USDA’s inexcusable failure to enforce the Animal Welfare Act left thousands of dogs to suffer and die terribly at Envigo and may now condemn thousands of beagles to more terror, deprivation, and misery.”

Earlier this week, PETA Honorary Director Bill Maher and more than 55,000 kind people called on Inotiv to allow all the dogs to be adopted. PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—conducted a seven-month undercover investigation into Envigo, which revealed more than 360 dead puppies. Workers with no veterinary credentials stuck needles into puppies’ heads, apparently to drain hematomas, without any pain relief and injected euthanasia drugs directly into their hearts without sedation—causing them immense pain—among other abuse. Broadcast-quality video footage from PETA’s investigation is available here, and photographs are available here.

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

The post Envigo Is Trying to Sell 2,200 Dogs—Most to Labs Overseas—Into 2023, Contradicting Claims to Judge appeared first on PETA.

Kyle Rittenhouse has just released a video game, Turkey Shoot, in which players open fire on turkeys plastered with “fake news.” He intends to use proceeds from sales of the game to try to pay off his legal fees. Below, please find a statement from PETA President Ingrid Newkirk:

Kyle Rittenhouse is right that fake news is a scourge that often results in real-life harm and death, but in these times especially, we need to protect and respect all—not promote more violence through a video game advocating shooting turkeys, who bother no one and are thinking, feeling birds who look after their brood and, when not factory farmed, have full and interesting lives that they value. We’re sending Rittenhouse a box of Tofurky roasts along with a request that he find an inanimate object to shoot if he’s determined to shoot at all.

The post Statement: Kyle Rittenhouse’s ‘Turkey Shoot’ Game Draws PETA’s Ire appeared first on PETA.

The post Thousands of Sheep Drown After Crowded Livestock Vessel Sinks in Sudan appeared first on PETA.

“Was She Killed to Make Your Carry-On?” asks the new messages from PETA that just went up near baggage claim, the rental car counter, and the waiting area of Morgantown Municipal Airport. The can’t-miss images, which encourage everyone to opt for cruelty-free, eco-conscious travel accessories, are greeting people landing in the Mountain State—named a top travel destination for 2022 by both Lonely Planet and Condé Nast Traveler—during what experts predict will be one of the busiest summer travel seasons ever.

“Vegan luggage is just the ticket for sustainable style that spares cows and shrinks our carbon footprints,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA hopes travelers will choose wisely to save all our skins by embracing innovative vegan leather made from everything from fruits and fungi to kombucha and cacti.”

A PETA video exposé of the world’s largest leather producer revealed that calves were branded on the face and that cows and bulls were electroshocked and beaten before being killed for their skin. Turning animal skins into leather can require the use of 130 different chemicals—including cyanide—and leather production produces massive amounts of the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to the climate catastrophe. The World Bank has also reported that cattle ranching is responsible for over 80% of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest since 1970.

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

The post ‘Cruelty Doesn’t Fly’: Provocative PETA Appeal Takes Over Local Airport appeared first on PETA.