Utah Ends Mandatory Pound Seizure Following PETA’s Investigation

January 2010

Less than six months after PETA released its undercover investigation in laboratories at the University of Utah, Utah legislators voted overwhelmingly to amend an archaic state law so that government-run animal shelters would no longer be forced upon request to sell dogs and cats to laboratories for use in cruel and deadly experiments. PETA’s investigation and the new law also prompted the shelter that had been selling the most animals to the university to end the shameful practice. Until March 2010, Utah was one of only three states in the country that still mandated that animal shelters sell animals to laboratories. PETA’s undercover investigation revealed that each year, more than 100 homeless cats and dogs from animal shelters in Utah were being sold to the university and used in invasive, painful, and deadly experiments.