Eerie Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 to Bring Alien Encounters to University of Oklahoma–Norman
For Immediate Release:
November 3, 2025
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
“Genius” and “definitely changed my perspective.” That’s how students have described peta2’s award-winning virtual reality experience, Abduction, which is coming to Oklahoma State University–Norman this week as part of a nationwide tour to encourage empathy for animals caged in laboratories on university campuses.
In this chilling experience, visitors will enter a mysterious truck containing a mobile virtual reality studio and find themselves seemingly stranded with a couple of fellow humans in the desert, only to be abducted by aliens, taken aboard a spaceship, and subjected to a shocking experience that mirrors what other species endure in laboratories. They’ll watch as their friends are subjected to painful tests—knowing that they’ll be next.
When: Tuesday, November 4 – Thursday, November 6, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day
Where: The University Memorial Union, East Lawn, 900 Asp Ave. in Norman
Students have hailed Abduction as “a really effective way of getting the message across” and said that it opened their eyes to the cruelty of experiments on animals, with one student saying, “I gotta go find the labs on this campus … I can’t believe they’re doing these things here.”
Watch the trailer here. Broadcast-quality footage of the Abduction virtual reality experience is available upon request.
At the University of Oklahoma-Norman, experimenters strapped chinchillas into restraint devices, inserted needles into their heads and legs, and stuck tubes into their ear canals before repeatedly blasting their heads with air. The chinchillas’ eardrums were ruptured, and after two weeks, all were killed, and their brains were cut out. Other experimenters removed parts of mice’s skulls, sent electric shocks to their brains, and applied chemicals like mustard oil and capsaicin (the burning compound in chili peppers) to their tongues. In another lab, experimenters drilled holes into both sides of mice’s skulls, injected viruses directly into their brains, and kept them alone in cages for weeks before subjecting them to behavioral tests, depriving them of water, and ultimately killing them all.
“Many students don’t know that on their own college campuses, frightened and confused animals are psychologically tormented, mutilated, and killed in laboratories with no way to escape or even understand what’s happening to them,” says peta2 Vice President Rachelle Owen. “peta2’s immersive VR experience is pulling back the curtain and moving students everywhere to join our call for a switch to superior, non-animal research.”
Studies show that 90% of all basic research—most of which involves animals—fails to lead to treatments for humans. That’s why peta2 is pushing universities to invest in research relevant to humans through Research Modernization NOW, a roadmap to better science.
Since its debut, Abduction has traveled from coast to coast, visiting nearly 100 colleges and universities, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California–Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin. Abduction was filmed in VR180 with assistance from the immersive content creation studio Prosper XR, won “Gold” and “Audience” honors in the 2023 Shorty Impact Awards, and was a nominee for the 2024 Webby Awards.
peta2—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers young people positive, empowering actions to help animals. For more information, please visit peta2.com or follow peta2 on TikTok or Instagram.
