PETA Statement on Johns Hopkins Founder’s Enslavement of Humans

For Immediate Release:
December 10, 2020

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Shalin Gala regarding the new revelation that the founder and benefactor of Johns Hopkins University enslaved humans:

Now that Johns Hopkins University is reckoning with the disturbing revelation that its namesake founder and benefactor enslaved humans, we urge the school to redouble its efforts to make amends with the African American community and also to use this moment of reflection to reconsider its present-day abusive treatment of animals in its laboratories, who—like humans who were enslaved—are forced to suffer in silence. At Johns Hopkins, Shreesh Mysore conducts horrific brain experiments on barn owls that involve attaching bolts to their skulls in order to hold their heads in a fixed position, locking them in restraining devices for up to 12 hours at a time, clamping their eyes open, and bombarding them with noises and lights to observe their reactions. The birds are eventually killed. It’s high time for the university to recognize that enslavement is wrong, no matter which sentient species is imprisoned.

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.