Students Stand With PETA in Demanding an End to Painful and Deadly Experiments on Cats and Dogs From Animal Shelters 

For Immediate Release:
November 16, 2009

Contact:
Justin Goodman 757-622-7382

Salt Lake City -- On the heels of the release of PETA's findings from an eight-month undercover investigation of animal experiments at the University of Utah (the U), the Student Organization for Animal Rights (SOAR) will protest against the abuse of homeless animals in the school's laboratories. PETA's investigator learned that the U regularly buys dogs and cats from local animal shelters and performs cruel, invasive, and deadly experiments on them. SOAR's protest marks the beginning of a local campaign called Stop Testing on Pets. The campaign is aimed at ending the use of animals from shelters in experiments at University of Utah laboratories and other Utah facilities.

When:   Tuesday, November 17, 12 noon

Where:  University of Utah, Administration Building, President's Circle, University Street and E. 200 South, Salt Lake City

The following are just a few of the findings from PETA's investigation:

*  This year, more than 100 dogs and cats have been purchased by the U from local animal shelters for use in painful and deadly experiments. One affectionate orange tabby cat named Robert had a hole cut into his skull and electrodes implanted so that a current could be run through his brain.

*  Some dogs' chests were cut open, and medical devices were implanted in the animals for deadly heart studies.

*  Kittens born to a pregnant cat purchased from the Davis County Animal Shelter had chemicals injected into their brains and died.

*  PETA documented that as employees from the U walked through a local animal shelter choosing dogs, the animals wagged their tails happily, unaware that they could be tormented in invasive experiments.

"The University of Utah is preying on local animal shelters and treating them as a cheap source of dogs and cats," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "Students are outraged that these animals are poisoned, cut up, and killed in cruel and deadly experiments. It has to stop."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.