Chilling Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Alien Encounters at University of Oregon
For Immediate Release:
April 14, 2025
Contact:
Brandi Pharris 202-483-7382
Coming to the University of Oregon this week is peta2’s award-winning virtual reality experience, Abduction, which is touring the country to encourage empathy for animals caged in laboratories on university campuses.
In this eerie 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.
Where: EMU Green, Outside ERB Memorial Union, 1395 University St., Eugene
When: Wednesday,April 16 – Thursday, April 17, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day
Watch the trailer here.
University of Oregon experimenters drilled into mice’s skulls and implanted wires and metal devices to purportedly study “natural behaviors.” Credit: Image taken from Supplementary Video 1 | A Head-Mounted Multi-Camera System for Electrophysiology and Behavior in Freely-Moving Mice | Nicholas J Sattler, Michael Wehr | Deed – Attribution 4.0 International – Creative Commons
At the University of Oregon, experimenters drilled holes in the skulls of mice, implanted electrodes into their brains, shoved sensors deep into their noses, immobilized them with metal posts, and placed them in tiny, inescapable chambers with rotating floors. In another test, experimenters injected mice with a psychedelic drug before bolting their heads in place and forcing them to run without relief on a spinning wheel. Others also drilled holes into the skulls of mice, screwed and cemented implants onto their heads, and inserted wires into their brains before locking them in soundproof chambers and subjecting them to multiple tests.
“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 PETA Associate Director of Innovation and Execution Kenneth Montville. “peta2 is a trailblazer in using immersive VR experiences to open young people’s eyes to this cruelty, help them understand what it feels like, and motivate them 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 prove their supposed commitment to “replacing, reducing, and refining” the use of animals in experiments.
Since its debut, Abduction has traveled from coast to coast, visiting more than 50 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.
