Wearing cat masks and crammed into small cages, PETA supporters brandished signs proclaiming, “Stop Experimenting on Me!” outside the New Jersey headquarters of Merck, Zoetis, and Bayer on Wednesday.
The protests come on the heels of PETA’s eyewitness exposé of Liberty Research, Inc., a Barton, New York, animal dealer and contract laboratory with which Merck, Zoetis, and Bayer have done business. Video footage and photographs captured by PETA’s eyewitness document that dogs and cats are held in miserable, barren conditions; denied adequate veterinary care; and killed in slow, stressful ways.
In experiments sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, dogs and cats were injected with drugs and exposed to viruses and then killed or used in additional tests. In one experiment, a worker drilled into the skulls of 30 dogs—some of whom hadn’t been adequately anesthetized and who whimpered during the process—and injected distemper virus into their brains.
Cats at Liberty are miserable! Thin cats used for experiments were put into rooms of 20 or more & had to compete for food. pic.twitter.com/7id17Cq98N
— PETA (@peta) June 23, 2017
Liberty Research has been caught treating sensitive, trusting dogs and cats like pieces of disposable laboratory equipment. PETA is calling on Merck, Zoetis, and Bayer to review our evidence and reconsider doing business with a company that has so little regard for dogs and cats.
100s of dogs & cats at Liberty Research suffer in cruel experiments every year. Companies pay Liberty for this. https://t.co/WWxcqDPRE1
— PETA (@peta) June 23, 2017
Join PETA in Speaking Out for the Dogs and Cats at Liberty
PETA has alerted officials to apparent violations of animal-protection laws and written to companies that conduct business with Liberty, asking that they reconsider their relationship with the company. But we need your help.
Can you imagine if your dog or cat was treated like those at Liberty?! Help save them NOW! https://t.co/WWxcqDPRE1 pic.twitter.com/6v33jgH0at
— PETA (@peta) June 23, 2017
Click the button below to urge the laboratory’s customers—including Merck, Bayer, Merial, Zoetis, Novartis, Michigan State University, and the universities of Pittsburgh, Florida, and Louisville—to reconsider their ties with Liberty.
