‘Golden Retriever’ to Demand, ‘Let My People Go!’ at Texas A&M

PETA Will Increase Pressure on School to End Cruel and Wasteful Muscular Dystrophy Experiments

For Immediate Release:
April 10, 2017

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

What:    As Texas A&M University (TAMU) continues to breed dogs with muscular dystrophy and subject them to painful experiments and miserable, pain-filled lives, a larger-than-life “dog” will lead PETA supporters in a spirited protest near the campus on Tuesday. With a sign proclaiming, “Let My People Go!”—plus posters displaying photographs from TAMU’s laboratory that show dogs who were deliberately bred, often by artificial insemination, to develop a crippling and painful form of muscular dystrophy—the “dog” will demand the experiments’ end and the dogs’ release for adoption into good homes.

When:    Tuesday, April 11, 12 noon

Where:    The intersection of University Drive and College Main, College Station

“After years of making dogs suffer and still finding no cure for humans, Texas A&M University needs a reality check,” says PETA’s Rebecca Schwartz. “The university must end its cruel experiments and commit to modern, animal-free research methods that will actually help people.”

Eyewitness video footage obtained by PETA shows dogs who struggled to walk, swallow, and even breathe in TAMU’s laboratory. Those who did not exhibit symptoms but who carried the gene for muscular dystrophy were used for breeding so that the lab would have a continuous supply of animals with the canine form of the disease. The video shows gene-carrier dogs frantically pacing on the hard, slatted floors and gnawing in frustration on the bars of their small, barren cages.

Tuesday’s demonstration comes on the heels of information released by PETA on the short, miserable lives of two golden retrievers named Jelly and Peony who died in TAMU’s laboratories.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.