Bill Maher Leaves Messages On More Than 10,000 Phones In Appeal to Save Cats

Comedian Takes a Serious Turn on PETA’s Behalf, Calls Locals With Message Against Cruel Experiments at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

For Immediate Release:
October 8, 2013

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Madison, Wis. — Earlier this year, Emmy winner and Oscar nominee James Cromwell was arrested for interrupting a meeting at a University of Wisconsin (UW) Board of Regents meeting to protest the school’s cruel brain experiments on cats—and now, HBO’s Real Time host Bill Maher is taking PETA’s campaign straight into university homes, offices, dorm rooms, and classrooms, thanks to a voice message that the animal rights group is dialing out to more than 10,000 telephones across the university community. 

“Many things in life are funny, but cruelty to animals isn’t one of them,” Maher says in the recorded message. “I want to make sure that you know about the terrible things done to cats right here at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.” He goes on to explain that, as PETA exposed last year in graphic photographs from inside the school’s laboratory, UW-Madison experimenters screw steel posts into open wounds on cats’ heads, intentionally deafen them, implant metal coils in their eyes, and starve them for up to six days at a time to force their cooperation in experiments. 

“It strikes me that it’s not the cats who need their heads examined, because being mean to animals isn’t just stupid—it’s wrong, especially when there are better options that are actually relevant to humans, as there are in this case,” Maher says. “Please visit PETA.org, where you can learn more and add your name to mine and those of the hundreds of thousands of other people who object to such needless cruelty.”

The federal government suspended this controversial experiment for six months earlier this year after receiving evidence of abuse from PETA, but the experiment recently resumed. For more information, please visit PETA.org.