U.S. Department of Agriculture Confirms Cruelty at UW-Madison

February 2013

Following a complaint filed by PETA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspected UW-Madison and confirmed the abuse of cats in a taxpayer-funded brain experiment at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW). The scathing government report found that there was “a pattern of recurring infections” and that all the cats whom PETA profiled in its complaint had been “diagnosed with chronic infections” after having steel posts screwed to open wounds on their heads and metal coils implanted in their eyes. The USDA also took photographs of the cats in the laboratory and cited UW for violating the Animal Welfare Act over an incident in which a cat named Broc was negligently burned by UW staff.