Golden Retriever Suffered for 11 Years, Died Alone in Texas A&M Lab; PETA Files Federal Complaint

Group to Hold Memorial at Regents Meeting and Call For Release of 9 Healthy Dogs

For Immediate Release:
August 8, 2022

Contact:
Amanda Hays 202-483-7382

This Wednesday, PETA supporters will crash Texas A&M University’s Board of Regents meeting and place a “dead dog” on the floor next to a pool of “vomit” to commemorate the death of a golden retriever named Pee Wee. He was bred to develop canine muscular dystrophy (MD) and suffered for years in the school’s notorious—now nearly defunct—MD laboratory before he died. The dog defenders will call for the release of nine surviving healthy dogs who were transferred from the MD lab to the university’s veterinary school instead of being put up for adoption as the university had pledged to do.

When:     Wednesday, August 10, 1 p.m.

Where:    Memorial Student Center, 275 Joe Routt Blvd., at the intersection with Wellborn Road, College Station

According to records obtained by PETA, Pee Wee could barely stand or walk at the time of his death and had lost so much muscle in his jaw area that he could barely eat. He had to be helped up and could stand for only one minute. But Texas A&M staff failed to end his suffering from the fatal disease—likely in violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act. On the morning of March 26, Pee Wee was found dead in his kennel.

PETA has repeatedly reported Texas A&M’s abuse of dogs to the U.S. Department of Agriculture—which didn’t inspect the MD laboratory during most of the COVID-19 shutdown—and today filed a complaint about the staff’s failure to euthanize Pee Wee.

“The feds should slam Texas A&M for its apparent failure to care for Pee Wee, who died alone after years of torment,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “Texas A&M failed him, but it can release the nine healthy dogs and must do so immediately.”

PETA released video footage from inside the MD laboratory that revealed grim conditions for the dogs, who were caged in barren metal cells. In 2019—under pressure from PETA supporters, physicians, and people with MD—Texas A&M halted breeding dogs to develop the disease. More than 50 have already been released for adoption.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.