Public Pressure Forces Cancelation of Washington State University Horse-Killing Laboratory: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
March 17, 2026

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President of International Laboratory Methods Shalin Gala regarding the cancelation of a laboratory at Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine after school officials received more than 36,000 emails and calls from PETA supporters, who joined with compassionate veterinary group Our Honor, to urge the school to save eight healthy and adoptable horses from use by student veterinarians for practice surgeries, after which the horses would have been killed:

PETA applauds Washington State University for listening to the public and canceling the laboratory that would have killed eight healthy and adoptable horses. We stand ready to assist the university, which has pledged to reconsider future training laboratories that operate on and kill other animals, such as its goat laboratory, as many of its peer institutions have done. Veterinary schools across the country use compassionate, effective, and state-of-the-art simulation-based teaching methods that don’t harm animals. PETA urges the university to take this opportunity to join them and to take one further step by sending the horses to reputable sanctuaries where they can live their lives in peace.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.