Kategorie: Animals

This week marks the 11^th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, and the thousands of scientists attending this year’s virtual conference will hear from PETA scientists on matters ranging from scientific and ethical concerns regarding inflicting permanent brain damage on primates to toxicity testing in rabbits.

“PETA has more scientists working on non-animal testing methods than any other animal protection organization, and we’re proud to share our research at the premier conference on modern research,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “Superior, cutting-edge tools are the future, and we’re eager to work with the global research community to advance their use.”

PETA scientists are chairing four sessions and will present two oral presentations and 16 posters. Posters by the group’s scientists, including Trunnell, will include the following.

• The Rodent in the Room—Considering Sentience in Research Programs Using Mice and Rats: This poster showcases how the mounting scientific evidence for sentience in animals commonly used in experimentation must be considered in harm/benefit analyses of biomedical research.
• Global Effort to End Animal Testing for Health Claims of Foods and Beverages: This poster, to be presented by Cheng, highlights PETA’s successful efforts to get food and beverage companies to stop conducting tests on animals in order to make health claims about their products.
• International Harmonization of Non-Animal Methods for Biomedical Training: This poster, also to be presented by Cheng, shares information about the cost-effective, human-relevant technological advances that can replace the millions of dogs, cats, rabbits, and other animals used in biomedical training every year.
• The Problem of Pain in Animal Experimentation: This poster explores the scientific and ethical ramifications of the high rate of untreated pain in animals used in experiments.
• In Vitro Approach for Assessing Respiratory Toxicity in Human Lung Cells: This poster describes how human cell-based systems can replace the use of rats and mice in tests to assess how inhaled chemicals affect the lungs.
• International Approaches to Implementing Alternative Test Methods for Marine Biotoxins in Shellfish: This poster outlines how non-animal methods are superior for detecting toxins in shellfish than tests involving injecting them into the abdomens of mice.
• Certain Harms and Uncertain Benefits in Animal Models for the Study of Human Depression and Anxiety: This poster critiques several harmful and commonly used animal models of anxiety and depression, including the forced swim test, the tail suspension test, and the elevated plus maze.
• Ethical and Scientific Concerns Regarding the Continued Use of Experimentally Induced Brain Injuries in Primates: This poster discusses whether inflicting permanent, debilitating brain damage on primates is ethically or scientifically justifiable.

The conference will screen the award-winning film Test Subjects, which profiles three PETA scientists who faced pressure in graduate school to experiment on animals. PETA scientists will also present details on their Research Modernization Deal, a commonsense plan to phase out the use of ineffective animal tests in the U.S., the EU, and India.

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 or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post PETA Scientists to Showcase Animal-Free Research at International Conference appeared first on PETA.

This week’s scorching temperatures—expected to reach the upper 90s in Jefferson City and Columbia—will put dogs at high risk of enduring heat prostration and dying, so PETA is issuing an urgent warning to anyone with a dog. Please be sure to do the following:

• Touch the pavement before walks to ensure that it won’t burn dogs’ foot pads.
• Be alert to a long, curled-up tongue and heavy panting, as dogs cannot sweat as humans can and heat builds up inside their bodies.
• Walk only in the shade or on earth or grass, and never leave animals outdoors in extreme heat or inside vehicles.

In May, PETA fieldworkers discovered the body of a dog who had died after being left chained up in the hot sun, and similar reports nationwide are starting to roll in. Recently, a law-enforcement officer mistakenly left his patrol car with a dog inside it, and the K-9 succumbed to heat prostration and died. This year, 29 dogs have been reported dead from heat-related causes. (Figures are far likely higher, as most heat-related companion animal deaths go unreported.)

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

The post Urgent: PETA Warns That Dogs May Die in Heat Wave in Missouri—Vital Tips Here appeared first on PETA.

Because a tropical storm warning is in effect in the Boston, Cape Cod, and Nantucket areas, PETA is issuing a reminder to never leave dogs tethered or penned outside and always take their animal companions with them if they have to evacuate their homes.

Believe it or not, every time there’s a natural disaster, many dogs and other companion animals are left outside to fend for themselves and even left behind when humans evacuate. Dogs kept tethered will swim to exhaustion and drown—and there are tethered dogs everywhere. PETA’s Animal Rescue Team has witnessed firsthand the trauma that animals endure when left behind to face floodwaters and flying debris. During previous storms, we have found dogs dead. We have also found them up to their necks in water, unable to sit or lie down, and in almost-submerged crates inside houses and seen animals who have been flung around by high winds. And of course, animals are petrified in these kinds of weather conditions.

PETA has also prepared a natural disaster–preparedness PSA featuring Dean Winters. Make plans to ensure the safety of animal companions long before evacuating. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

The post Urgent From PETA: Cruel—and Criminal—to Abandon Animals in Massachusetts During Tropical Storm Henri appeared first on PETA.

Because a tropical storm warning is in effect in Providence, may we implore you to never to leave dogs tethered or penned outside and always to take their animal companions with them if they have to evacuate their homes.

Believe it or not, every time there’s a natural disaster, many dogs and other companion animals are left outside to fend for themselves and even left behind when humans evacuate. Dogs kept tethered will swim to exhaustion and drown—and there are tethered dogs everywhere. PETA’s Animal Rescue Team has witnessed firsthand the trauma that animals endure when left behind to face floodwaters and flying debris. During previous storms, we have found dogs dead. We have also found them up to their necks in water, unable to sit or lie down, and in almost-submerged crates inside houses and seen animals who have been flung around by high winds. And of course, animals are petrified in these kinds of weather conditions.

PETA has released a natural disaster–preparedness PSA featuring Dean Winters. Make plans to ensure the safety of animal companions long before evacuating. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

The post Urgent From PETA: Cruel—and Criminal—to Abandon Animals in Rhode Island During Tropical Storm Henri appeared first on PETA.