Animal Testing Weekly


PETA mall
Give Your Cruelty-Free Business a Boost! Supporting our vital work for animals while growing your cruelty-free business has never been easier. Join a community of compassionate companies by becoming a PETA Business Friend today. LEARN MORE 

Baby Cows Saved From a Pharmaceutical Lab Are Learning to Love. In today’s society, babies, at least human ones, are given utmost priority. Mothers are given maternity leave so that babies can start their lives with as much attention and care as possible. Babies are raised and heralded as “the future,” part of a group who will hopefully be wiser, kinder, and better for the world than the generation before them. And of course, they are given all of the care they need to grow up strong and healthy. Sadly, the reality for babies born into the world of animal agriculture is much, much different. Take calves for example. In the dairy industry, these animals are ripped away from their mothers soon after birth so that they do not consume any of their mother’s precious milk (that’s for humans, after all). From here, if the calf is a female, she is moved and set up to follow the footsteps of her mother and become a dairy cow. If the calf is a male, he is transported to the meat industry where he will either be sold as veal or raised for a few more weeks and killed for beef.

Not every single calf lives out one of these two scenarios, though. Two three-day-old calves who were recently rescued by New Life Animal Sanctuary, for example, were actually transferred to pharmaceutical laboratories shortly after birth. They were going to be used for their blood and then discarded promptly after. Thankfully, these calves were rescued and taken to New Life Animal Sanctuary through the “Life After Labs” program.

When the two calves, now named Zeus and Hayden, arrived at the sanctuary, they were in major need of medical attention. Zeus arrived very weak with diarrhea and was having difficulty breathing.
Calves Welcome 5
Hayden was in better shape but still needed to be monitored closely. After all, these babies were just days old, Hayden’s umbilical cord was still attached!
Calves Welcome 8
Sanctuary staffers and the emergency vet who was called in did everything to make sure these calves felt as comfortable as possible.
Calves Welcome 4
In addition to medicine, this meant plenty of cuddles and kisses!
Calves Welcome 2
Considering how traumatic life has already been for these calves, they need as much emotional support as possible.
Calves Welcome 6 
As rough as the next weeks may be, goodness knows these calves are in a much better place and in much kinder hands.
Calves Welcome 3
Cows are intelligent, emotional, and affectionate creatures that are a lot like the beloved dogs of our society. They might not be as tiny as pups and they might not be able to sit on your lap, but they deserve just as much respect as our domesticated pets. Thanks to this kind sanctuary and the Life After Labs program, these two calves will have a chance that many cows are not granted: to live in a haven where they will be able to flourish and reveal the beautiful personalities they surely have. We wish these two the best. All image source: New Life Animal Sanctuary/Facebook
Have Your Gift Matched
Hurry! Only a Few Days Left to Have Your Gift Matched. Time is running out to double your impact for animals who are suffering in laboratories. PETA's Animals Out (of the Labs) Challenge ends Monday, and so does your opportunity to have your gift matched dollar for dollar. DONATE NOW
Please Urge NIH to Pull the Plug on Funding for Cruel and Abusive Primate Laboratory. Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories USA (SNBL)—a primate dealer and contract-testing laboratory with operations in Everett, Washington, and Alice, Texas—has just been slapped with an administrative lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for dozens of documented violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act from 2011 to 2016 that have led to horrific suffering and death for many animals.
baby monkey at SNBL
PETA is calling on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to stop directing taxpayer funds to SNBL and pull the "Assurance" that permits it to receive federal contracts and is asking the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the operation for violations of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

The complaint, which was sent to PETA, follows numerous PETA complaints, a 2011 whistleblower report indicating that SNBL abuses and neglects monkeys, and three USDA stipulations in 2006, 2008, and 2009. The USDA's complaint details numerous incidents, including the following, among others:
  • Twenty-five monkeys shipped from Cambodia to Houston sustained "multiple organ failure caused by dehydration and hypoglycemia." They died or were euthanized after they were trucked to Washington without veterinary care, in spite of being weak, thin, and in poor health.
  • A 6-week-old monkey became trapped while trying to escape through a fence. Monkeys on the other side tried unsuccessfully to pull him through, and he died from trauma and hypothermia.
  • Six monkeys died when improperly trained and unqualified personnel conducted liver biopsies on them.
  • Multiple monkeys suffered from trauma, hyperthermia, and seizures and ultimately died after being pursued by net-wielding workers.
  • A monkey became entangled in a cable and strangled to death.
  • At least two monkeys died after sustaining severe injuries during fights with incompatible cagemates.
  • A monkey suffocated to death after SNBL staff failed to notice that the animal's head was stuck in a cage.
"SNBL's incompetence and indifference have cruelly killed many monkeys for many years," says PETA Senior Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "PETA is calling for this laboratory to be stripped of its funding and shut down."

Please contact NIH and urge the agency to cancel the "Assurance" that allows SNBL to receive federal contracts.

Horrific Deaths for Monkeys at Abusive Laboratory—Take Action! The National Institutes of Health (NIH) permits taxpayer funds to go to a laboratory where a 6-week-old monkey died from trauma and hypothermia. TELL NIH TO PULL PLUG ON FUNDING 

Urge Santa Monica College to Stop Dissecting Pregnant Cats. She's no different from the animals who share our homes …
cute cat
… but recent eyewitness footage reveals that Santa Monica College apparently uses pregnant cats like her for dissection lessons—even though there are humane alternatives that don't involve cutting open animals.
Dissection is bad science: Studies show that students are less interested in science after being forced to dissect, and it's a cruel way to teach biology and anatomy. All medical schools in the U.S. and Canada have stopped using animals in courses for medical students, and even Texas A&M—the third-largest university in the country—is phasing out dissection in its human anatomy and physiology course. Dissection is unnecessary, and students—and animals—deserve better.

PETA has even offered to donate superior non-animal methods to Santa Monica College, but so far, it hasn't taken us up on the offer.

You can help prevent more cats from suffering. Urge Santa Monica College to ditch cat dissections and instead use humane non-animal methods to teach its students.

Are You Dissecting Dog?
Breaking —The Nonhuman Rights Project’s legal team just filed a new appeal for Tommy—our first ever chimpanzee plaintiff—with the Appellate Division, First Department of New York.

Our objective? To send an unmistakable message that Tommy deserves his day in court—and his freedom—regardless of where his "owners" are hiding him.
Jane
As reported by the Daily Mail and The Dodo, Tommy is missing from his cage in upstate New York and it has proven impossible for anyone concerned about him to find out where he is. This is what it means to be a "legal thing” instead of a "legal person": you can be bought, sold, traded, shipped, and confined all alone, without legal consequence.

We’re exploring every means to verify Tommy’s whereabouts and to establish his right to freedom — and this begins with our new appeal in the Appellate Division, First Department of New York.  

The NhRP’s legal team is funded solely through your generosity. We can file only as many appeals as we can afford ... and that’s why I’m writing you today.


Tommy is a self-aware, autonomous being who belongs in a sanctuary, not hidden behind closed doors. But under current law, and even with new Endangered Species Act protections, Tommy has no more rights than a pair of tennis shoes. He is considered property.

This is morally wrong ... and the NhRP is working through common law courts to make it legally wrong.

We've also engaged a private investigator to help us find Tommy.