Utah Lawmakers End Mandatory Pound Seizure Following PETA Investigation

Archaic Law Forced Shelters to Sell Animals for Experiments

For Immediate Release:
March 29, 2010

Contact:
Kathy Guillermo 757-622-7382

Salt Lake City -- Following PETA's release of findings from a shocking eight-month-long undercover investigation of dog and cat experiments at the University of Utah, state legislators have overwhelmingly passed House Bill 107 (Animal Shelter Amendments), which amends an archaic state law so that government-run animal shelters will no longer be forced to sell homeless dogs and cats to laboratories upon request for use in cruel and deadly experiments. The new law also lengthens the required holding period for animals in animal shelters and mandates that animal shelters make greater efforts to find the guardians of lost animals. Gov. Gary R. Herbert signed the bill into law on Saturday.

In the wake of the new law, PETA is urging Utah animal shelters to formally prohibit the sale of animals to laboratories and will be pushing for the University of Utah to stop purchasing cats and dogs from animal shelters once and for all.

Until Saturday's amendment, Utah was one of only three states in the country that still forced animal shelters to engage in this practice. PETA's undercover investigation at the University of Utah, which was released just five months ago, revealed that more than 100 homeless cats and dogs from animal shelters in Utah are sold to the university every year for use in invasive, painful, and deadly experiments.

"We congratulate the Utah legislature for acting so quickly after our investigation to recognize that dogs and cats at animal shelters aren't laboratory tools," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "Now Utah's public animal shelters should focus on what they're supposed to: providing a haven for lost and homeless dogs and cats."

For more information, please visit StopAnimalTests.com.