During Football Game, Activists Demand End to Texas A&M's Cruel Canine Muscular Dystrophy Experiments
For Immediate Release:
October 17, 2020
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
Starkville, Miss. – Moments after Texas A&M University (TAMU) scored its first touchdown against Mississippi State at Davis Wade Stadium today, two PETA supporters wearing shirts and brandishing signs proclaiming, “Texas A&M: Stop Cruel Dog Tests,” rushed onto the field. The duo ran around the field—before being tackled and dragged away by security—to slam TAMU for experimenting on golden retrievers who were bred to have a debilitating canine form of muscular dystrophy (MD) that leaves the them struggling to walk, swallow, and even breathe. The two were charged with disorderly conduct and trespass. Video footage of the disruption is available here.
“For decades, generations of dogs have suffered and died in gruesome experiments that haven’t led to a cure for muscular dystrophy in humans,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA is calling on Texas A&M to care about these tormented dogs as much as it does its football games and release them into loving homes.”
Video footage released by PETA in late 2016 shows golden retrievers and other dogs at TAMU who were deliberately bred to develop a crippling and painful form of canine MD struggling to walk, swallow, and even breathe. Under pressure from PETA supporters, 500 physicians, and people with MD, TAMU stopped breeding dogs to develop the disease. The lead experimenter has retired, and many of the nearly 100 dogs were adopted into homes. But the laboratory still keeps 25 dogs—at least 12 of whom are healthy—imprisoned there.
For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
