Kategorie: Animals

It’s both appalling and disturbingly telling that the University of Washington (UW) would hire Michele Basso to lead the troubled Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC), which has been without a director for nearly 18 months. Basso is notorious for being one of the few university experimenters ever to be suspended from using animals as a result of serious welfare violations.

Her time at the University of Wisconsin was marked by a firestorm over the number of monkeys in her studies who died, her unwillingness to abide by regulations or adhere to experimental protocols, and her apparent incompetence.

As the University of Wisconsin chancellor wrote in a memo sent to all faculty on March 19, 2010, “Dr. Michele Basso … has been cited by university animal care committees for a range of problems over a five-and-a-half-year period. Despite repeated efforts and an unambiguous warning by the School of Medicine and Public Health’s … ACUC [Animal Care and Use Committee], problems recurred.”

Michele Basso Performs Messy Brain Experiments on Monkeys

Basso’s experiments involve cutting into the tops of monkeys’ skulls, inserting electrodes into their brains, and implanting tiny wire coils in their eyes. She straps them into a restraint chair and forces them to stare at a screen all day—and she keeps them thirsty so that they’ll cooperate for a sip of water.

Basso’s “problems” in the Wisconsin laboratory, wrote the attending veterinarian, were that she “had significant difficulties with the cranial explant model—many more that other investigators using the same model in the same animal care unit with the same veterinary staff … including failure to follow explicit instructions and reluctance to permit necropsies on animals that die …. There have been multiple instances of proven or suspected brain abscesses, and multiple events involving screws penetrating the dura, leading to either hemorrhage or abscess. Animals have been left unattended for hours in compromised condition …. Medical records are often incomplete or inaccessible …. Recently it was discovered that [Basso] has been inserting unsterilized materials into brain tissue.”

University of Wisconsin officials eventually let her back into an animal laboratory but only under enhanced supervision. That was apparently too limiting, and she moved her cruel experiments to the University of California–Los Angeles, where the local activists with Progress For Science have protested her skull-cutting experiments.

The Michele Basso Appointment Spells More Suffering for Monkeys in UW Laboratories

Basso’s history of disregard for animal protection regulations should disqualify her from leading any animal laboratory anywhere—but especially at the WaNPRC, which has its own long history of violations.

Federal inspection reports reveal that monkeys there suffer because of incompetence and neglect. Monkeys have strangled, died of thirst, been mauled by other animals, and choked to death on their own vomit.

Internal documents obtained by PETA reveal that in one recent eight-month period, the federally funded center had to treat a staggering 332 traumatic injuries (including broken limbs and teeth), more than 200 cases of gastrointestinal problems, 149 cases of significant weight loss, 19 cases of rectal prolapse, and a dozen implant abnormalities.

UW should reconsider this hire immediately and clean up its own act. Basso must be kept as far away from monkeys as possible.

What You Can Do

Tell UW to Close Down Its Cruel Primate Research Center: 5 Easy Steps

The post New UW Primate Center Director Was Once Suspended for Violations appeared first on PETA.

PETA may sell a “Vegans Against SPAM” T-shirt, but that isn’t stopping the group from giving credit where credit’s due, in the form of a “Hats Off” Award to Hormel, as the locally based company—notorious for killing millions of pigs each year—is stocking pizzerias nationwide with delicious vegan pepperoni from its Happy Little Plants brand.

“Hormel’s salty pig- and planet-saving pepperoni is a sign of things to come,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is telling Hormel not to dip a toe but to dive headfirst into the deep end of the vegan market, which is the best thing it could do as meat and dairy sales dry up.”

Since no one needs to consume meat or dairy, raising and killing animals for food is unjustifiable as well as abysmally cruel to animals and devastating for the environment—and people are waking up. More than half of Americans now purchase vegan options in place of meat and dairy, and the vegan meat market is predicted to be worth more than $4.15 billion by 2026.

In addition to the rise of vegan eating, Hormel has contended with public outrage after a PETA undercover investigation into one of its suppliers revealed that pigs were jabbed in the eyes with clothespins, beaten with metal rods and boards, and abused in other terrible ways by both workers and supervisors. The company is also facing scrutiny for contributing to cruel and deadly tests on pigs in bids to increase its profits, and PETA is calling on Hormel to be done with the controversy by ending its meat production and experiments and becoming an all-vegan company.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. 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 PETA Says Hats Off to … Hormel? appeared first on PETA.

To help fuel health-care workers as local COVID-19 cases remain high, PETA will deliver free vegan lunches to Washington Regional Medical Center on Wednesday. Served hot from nearby Mellow Mushroom, the balsamic-marinated tempeh hoagies and veggie-packed pizzas should come as a relief to the hardworking staff.

“Fayetteville’s health-care workers all need a boost, so PETA is providing them with a healthy and hearty pick-me-up,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “We want to brighten some shifts, save some animals, and remind everyone that plant foods never caused a pandemic.”

PETA notes that 75% of recently emerged infectious diseases in humans came from other species of animals. COVID-19 is thought to have originated in bat caves or live-animal markets in China. In addition to helping to prevent future pandemics, people who go vegan each save the lives of nearly 200 animals every year and significantly reduce their risk of suffering from health problems, including strokes, cancer, and heart disease.

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

The post PETA to Feed Healthy Vegan Meals to Local Hospital Workers appeared first on PETA.

Wearing a beautiful wedding gown made of cauliflower, Selling Sunset star Heather Rae Young appears in a new PETA campaign encouraging everyone to say, “I do!” to healthy and delicious animal-free food. She unveiled the ad alongside her fiancé Tarek El Moussa at a special bridal shower hosted for her by PETA at the Kindred Spirits Care Farm, an animal sanctuary in California, on Thursday.

Young, who has been vegan for 12 years, is currently in major wedding planning mode, and in an interview with PETA, she reveals that vegan food will be front and center on her and El Moussa’s big day: “We are incorporating a lot of vegan food into the wedding. I definitely want a chocolate peanut butter cake, so Tarek and I already did some taste testing. We have not finalized what we’re gonna do, but we’re definitely gonna do a big vegan cake.”

“Tarek is the most supportive person of my vegan diet. … He’ll try my food [and say], I like your food better.” His two children are completely sold on vegan food, too, and when Young whips up Beyond Meat meatballs, his son says, “This is my favorite meal!”

The TV star also discusses the meaning behind her animal rights–inspired tattoos, such as the “269” on her wrist, which is “about a cow in Israel [who] was being slaughtered, so a bunch of vegans got 269, the number of the tag that was on his ear.”

Each person who goes vegan like Young saves nearly 200 animals every year; reduces their risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer; and helps prevent future epidemics and pandemics. SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and COVID-19 all stemmed from confining and killing animals for food.

“Just try it,” she says. “[Y]ou’ll love it, and you’ll feel a lot better.”

Young is part of a long list of PETA pals—including Alicia Silverstone, Natalie Portman, Thandie Newton, Joaquin Phoenix, Pamela Anderson, Maggie Q, Woody Harrelson, Bellamy Young, RZA, Peter Dinklage, Madelaine Petsch, Evanna Lynch, and Mýa—who’ve teamed up with the group or its affiliates to encourage people to stop eating animals.

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

The post Heather Rae Young Is a Blushing Vegan Bride-to-Be in New PETA Ad appeared first on PETA.

A recent Marist Poll surveyed 868 adults in New York, and the results showed that an overwhelming 91% of respondents reported that they never go to tracks in that state to bet on horseracing events in a typical year. Only 5% reported going once a year, 1% reported going twice, and 3% reported going three or more times. Reports suggest that the poll’s results reflect an overall decrease in attendance at New York tracks.

Even as Interest in Racing Wanes, Corporate Welfare Continues

Billions in casino taxes that could fund growing business sectors, education, or other organizations that serve the majority of New Yorkers are instead funding this failing private gambling business, whose owners include some of the wealthiest families in the world. In the last four years, $1 billion in subsidies went to the state’s 11 tracks—and, through prize money (purses), into the pockets of billionaires like Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Horses Are Still Dying on New York Tracks

What has the New York State Gaming Commission done in response to the deaths of 71 horses so far in 2021? Not enough.

What if multiple New York Yankees players were dying on the baseball field every month? What if dozens of New York Jets football players were sustaining fatal injuries at practice sessions? How would state officials respond? They would take immediate and decisive action to stop the massacre.

Horses are intelligent, empathetic animals who shouldn’t be forced to suffer and die. If the industry can’t keep its “athletes” alive, racing must end. State officials have failed to do all that they can to stop the deaths, despite receiving simple, lifesaving recommendations for industry improvements from PETA and calls to protect horses from more than 100,000 concerned people.

What You Can Do

Please tell the New York State Gaming Commission to take action now to prevent more horses from dying on tracks in the state.

Take Action for Horses!

The post Poll Shows 91% of New Yorkers Never Go to Race Tracks—Yet Horses Keep Dying appeared first on PETA.