It has been exactly 30 years since PETA's historic Silver Spring monkeys case thrust the animal rights movement into mainstream consciousness in the summer of 1981. PETA's first undercover investigation led to many other firsts—the first search-and-seizure warrant to be served on a U.S. laboratory, the first confiscation from a laboratory of abused animals, and the first cruelty-to-animals conviction of an experimenter.

Those 17 macaque monkeys carried much of the weight of the animal rights movement on their backs. When we found the Silver Spring monkeys at the Institute for Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, many of them were being used in a crude experiment in which their spinal nerves were severed, making it difficult or impossible for them to move one of their arms. The experimenter, Edward Taub, starved them, used surgical pliers to pinch their skin, and gave them electric shocks to try to force them to use their disabled limbs to get food. They had lost most of the fur on their tails to malnutrition.

The trauma of the cruel, invasive experiments and intense confinement to rusty, broken, and mold- and feces-encrusted cages was so severe that many of them had ripped off their own flesh and were left to suffer from open, festering wounds. Many of the monkeys had lost their fingers to the jagged, broken, and rusty wires that protruded into the tiny, uncomfortable space where they had to sit and lie.

PETA pursued the Silver Spring monkeys case for more than a decade—all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although we prevailed in getting some of the monkeys into a group indoor/outdoor space away from public view at the San Diego Zoo, some of them—including Augustus, for whom PETA's Augustus donor club is named—were turned over to another laboratory, anesthetized, experimented on, and killed.

But because the Silver Spring monkeys case forced the cruelty of animal experimentation into the spotlight, it paved the way for many victories for animals. In 1993, PETA persuaded General Motors to become the first company to stop using animals in automobile crash tests, and other companies soon followed until those horrendous experiments were eradicated. At PETA's urging, Revlon and Estée Lauder became the first mainstream corporations to end animal testing, and since then more than 950 household, cosmetics, and personal-care companies have followed suit. And just in the past year, after another PETA investigation, animal testing hellhole Professional Laboratory and Research Services, Inc., shut its doors and surrendered its animals, and four of its workers were indicted on felony cruelty-to-animals charges (another first for animals in laboratories). 

The Silver Spring monkeys (and some of the people who helped rescue them) are all at peace now, but their legacy will continue to lead to more groundbreaking changes for animals for many years to come.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

In a landmark move, a North Carolina grand jury has returned indictments for 14 counts of felony cruelty-to-animals against four individuals, including a supervisor, who worked at Professional Laboratory Research Services (PLRS), which was investigated by PETA last fall. This marks the first time in U.S. history that laboratory workers have faced felony cruelty charges for their abuse of animals in a laboratory and only the second time that experimenters have faced criminal prosecution for cruelty (the first stemmed from PETA's first undercover investigation, the groundbreaking 1981 Silver Spring monkeys case).
 

 
Mary Ramsey—who had been employed as a PLRS supervisor—and Jessica Detty were each indicted on five counts, while Christine Clement and Tracy Small were each indicted on two counts. The accused are among those caught on video kicking, throwing, and dragging dogs; hoisting rabbits by their ears and puppies by their throats; violently slamming cats into cages; and screaming obscenities at terrified animals. One of those named is the worker seen on video trying to rip out a cat's claws by violently pulling the animal from the fence onto which he or she clung in fear.

The state charges follow extensive citations, by federal officials for serious violations of animal welfare laws, the lab's closure, and the surrender of nearly 200 dogs and more than 50 cats just a week after we released our findings. We'll keep you updated on the criminal case as it progresses.
 

Written by Alisa Mullins

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It's not often that we use the word "great" to describe anything involving vivisectors, but a recent development involving a petition filed by PETA and Madison-based Alliance for Animals against sheep experimenters at University of Wisconsin (UW)–Madison is just that: Circuit Court Judge Amy Smith has determined that nine individuals may face criminal penalties for conducting excruciating and deadly decompression experiments on sheep.

You might remember that PETA and Alliance for Animals joined forces to petition for prosecution after a district attorney shrugged off his own findings that UW-Madison had indeed violated state law using decompression to kill sheep. The D.A. apparently decided that it wasn't worth his time and effort to pursue charges.

After reviewing our petition, Judge Smith decided that animal experimenters are not above the law, determining "that probable cause exists to conclude that certain named individuals … violated [a state law prohibiting the use of decompression to kill animals], either directly or as party to a crime." That means that both the vivisectors and those who assisted them with their experiments may face criminal or civil prosecution. In her 24-page decision, Judge Smith also wrote, "[T]he University has apparently engaged in behavior resulting in the above-described animal deaths for years," and noted that "it may well continue to decompress animals to death contrary to law, unless I take action." She has appointed a special prosecutor to determine whether to bring charges against the nine UW-Madison employees.

Considering that this is possibly the second time that a judge has found probable cause for criminal charges—the first was PETA's landmark Silver Spring Monkeys case—it's no wonder that news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and others are buzzing about this important development.

We'll keep you in the loop on future developments as they happen, but we—and animals—are depending your efforts to help stop animal experimentation.

Written by Karin Bennett

Back in the '80s, when many people still thought that PETA was a Middle Eastern bread, a funny actor from Oklahoma became our first champion in Hollywood and helped establish the organization as a household name. She was Rue McClanahan, the flirty "Golden Girl," and she became so active that she was PETA's honorary director for almost three decades.

I was still PETA's receptionist when I wrote to Rue and asked if she would star in our first anti-fur commercial. You can imagine my delight when I answered the phone to hear Rue say that not only would she do it, she had gotten Bea Arthur and Betty White to appear, too, and had even convinced the producers to film it for us free of charge on the set after one of their Friday-night tapings. From then on, Rue became a key PETA operative in Hollywood as well as a personal friend; she even let me use her dressing room as a makeshift office, as PETA had no office in L.A. back then. I left my post at the reception desk and started developing campaigns with high-profile personalities thanks in large part to Rue's enthusiasm.

Growing up in the country, Rue had always been shocked to see the glee that many people derive from hunting and fishing—and she had been mocked for her concern—so she felt relieved to get involved with an organization that made no apologies about defending all animals. After winning an Emmy, Rue did the talk-show circuit and always found a way to discuss her PETA activism, telling viewers, with that gracious smile, that not only was she anti-fur, she also opposed animal experimentation. In Salt Lake City, she took time off from the Touched By an Angel set to host PETA's video for a landmark factory farm cruelty case. In Las Vegas, she led a protest outside a furriers' convention. In Virginia, she launched PETA's mobile spay-and-neuter clinic. And in New York, she hosted a saucy PETA benefit at Chippendales. One muggy summer, she returned to Oklahoma, where PETA had filmed elephant trainers beating animals who were performing in the circus, to screen that footage at the state capitol and call on lawmakers to outlaw bullhooks.

When floods ravaged the Midwest, Rue flew to St. Louis to make appeals for people to include animals in their evacuation plans. She starred in public service announcements urging people to spay or neuter their animals and always to adopt from animal shelters rather than buying from pet shops or breeders (there were four shelter dogs at that shoot, and she took all of them home). She opened her house for a PETA benefit and told guests that "Rue" is French for "street" and that she always wished her last name had been "Walker."

But my favorite memory of Rue was when we traveled to New Mexico, where she helped push through legislation to outlaw cockfighting. When a reporter asked if there would be any naked protesters, she just smiled and replied, "It's not that kind of cockfight."

If animals could sing, I have no doubt that they'd serenade Rue with the Golden Girls theme song: "Thank You for Being a Friend."

Written by PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews

P.S. To make a gift for animals in Rue's honor, please visit our True Friends Memorials page.

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All this week, Slate has been running a five-part series on animal experiments. The series starts out by telling the story of a dog named Pepper who was stolen in 1965 and who "changed American science." As the author, Daniel Engber, points out, the fall-out from Pepper's story led to the 1966 passage of the Animal Welfare Act—the first federal law protecting animals in laboratories.

In today's installment, Engber describes the time he spent as a grad student working on a macaque named Clayton in a university laboratory. He describes how he returned to the lab years later to find that, while his life has moved on—and out of the laboratory—Clayton is still imprisoned, his whole world limited to just two rooms:

Engber also talks about PETA's famous Silver Spring monkeys case, which was the impetus behind sweeping changes made to the Animal Welfare Act in 1985, including the creation of oversight committees that we are currently hounding to do their jobs.

While the series of articles focuses on the use of dogs in experiments, it also describes what is done to rats and mice. That's because no discussion of vivisection can rightly avoid the elephant (or, in this case, mouse) in the room—which is the fact that most of the whopping number of animals used in experiments are these small mammals, who, for no reason other than prejudice and convenience, are still specifically excluded from the Animal Welfare Act.

We strongly recommend taking a minute or two to check out the series—and don't miss part IV, which talks about PETA's undercover investigation at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.

Written by Alisa Mullins