PETA Urges New USU President to Lead with Compassion, End Rat Torment in Psych Course
For Immediate Release:
November 10, 2025
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
In letters sent today, PETA urges Utah State University’s (USU) new President Brad Mortensen and Student Body President Brandon Sorensen to advocate for a ban on using live rats in the undergraduate psychology course PSY 3400 and switch to superior, animal-free teaching methods used by other institutions.
The experiments last nearly an hour and involve locking rats inside noisy metal boxes and blasting them with random bursts of bright light. The tests, which previously used pigeons, attempt to train the animals to push a lever to receive food pellets. Video footage of the experiments is available here.
A rat locked in a metal box, used in USU’s psychology course.
“Rats are highly social animals who become attached to each other and easily bond with human guardians, but USU treats them like their lives don’t matter,” says PETA Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA urges the university’s leaders to be compassionate and replace these cruel experiments with state-of-the-art simulation programs that leave animals in peace.”
Rats are family-oriented individuals who express empathy when another rat is distressed and put themselves in harm’s way rather than allow another sentient being to suffer. When playfully tickled, rats make chirping sounds strikingly similar to human laughter.
Studies show that the majority of psychology students oppose the use of animals in psychology education and that most psychologists and psychology students believe undergraduate courses should not require live-animal experimentation.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
