petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-08--UPDATE: Cool Cat the Dog Nearly Dies, Musher Shrugs and Keeps Going

Matthew Failor forced this senior dog to run hard , she developed twisted intestines and almost died , her stomach painfully distended—and then , instead of staying with her while she recovered , he kept right on racing for the cash prize in a race that risks , and often takes , dogs ’ lives .
This incident illustrates why PETA is campaigning to end this deadly race : no prize purse is worth a dog ’ s life .
For some dogs forced to run the deadly sled race , the 2020 Iditarod truly just became a trial by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Anchorage-area NBC affiliate KTUU , current Iditarod leader Jessie Royer accidentally set her own sled on fire sometime before reaching the checkpoint in Ruby , Alaska .
In the clip below , she admits that the fire burned a bag of protective snow booties that dogs wear on their feet along with other supplies .
It ’ s unclear from the interview if she has more booties for her dogs to wear .
When Royer became the first musher to arrive at the Ruby checkpoint , she was greeted with a five-course @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Dom Pérignon .
Meanwhile , her dogs were left outside in the cold , prohibited from taking shelter , waiting for whatever might come next .
Animals aren ’ t sporting equipment .
They aren ’ t tools , and they aren ’ t gourmet meals , either .
It ’ s speciesist to believe that some animals are servants , some are soup , and only a select few are worthy of our consideration and empathy .
Dogs forced to run the Iditarod are no different physiologically from other dogs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ time before an exhausted musher makes another careless mistake that could cost a dog their life .
Despite initial reports that Nicolas Petit would scratch from the Iditarod after admitting that all the dogs on his team vomited and that three of them had frostbite , it now seems clear that he is forcing them all to continue .
In an interview , Petit described what had happened on the trail , saying , “ Oh , another one pukes , oh , then another one is puking , ” and he admitted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of fear that one of the dogs would choke if he or she threw up while panting .
The leading cause of death for dogs on the Iditarod trail is aspiration pneumonia caused by inhaling their own vomit .
Petit also stated that one dog bit another one on his team in the face so severely that the wound nearly needed stitches .
Last year , Petit was a frontrunner in the race until his dogs refused to continue running .
Illness , injury , or exhaustion likely prompted him to drop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meant that the remaining 10 dogs were forced to work even harder—before they gave up altogether .
Everyone should be asking the Iditarod why these dogs are still being forced to run .
If Petit cared about these dogs , he wouldn ’ t be forcing them to run a 1,000-mile race in which they die , year after year .
He ’ s seen firsthand how devastating this race is for dogs , yet for some reason , he continues to torture them in this frozen hellscape .
Musher John Schandelmeier claims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dogs to race or to finish the deadly Iditarod , which begs the question , “ Why not spare the dogs and yourself the misery and just drop out now ?
” Schandelmeier became a last-minute substitute for his wife , Zoya DeNure , who dropped out because of a heart condition .
He has already suffered frostbite on his hands and toes and has a lingering leg injury as a result of a bacterial infection from last year .
How can he be expected to care for the dogs during the next @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It ’ s not like , ‘ Oh , I want to run the Iditarod.
’ I ’ ve never had that desire .
It ’ s not something on my wish list , ” said Schandelmeier , according to Anchorage Daily News .
You may remember that DeNure came forward to report that some trainers in the industry kill “ hundreds on top of hundreds or more dogs ” because they don ’ t run fast enough to make the team .
She called out musher Dallas Seavey ’ s kennels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who aren ’ t fast or fit enough and wrote , “ Sadly , this has been going on in the family ‘ dynasty ’ for decades.
” PETA urges Schandelmeier to drop out now .
In other developments , 79-year-old Jim Lanier scratched “ after concerns for his own well-being ” according to Iditarod officials .
He was originally banned from the Iditarod this year over concerns for his health and his ability to care for his dogs during the race .
A petition from mushers and fans compelled the Iditarod to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of these petitioners cared about the well-being of the dogs .
Lanier didn ’ t race last year , but in 2018 another musher came across him stuck and starting to freeze .
The 2020 Iditarod death race has begun .
For roughly two weeks , hundreds of dogs will be forced to run about 1,000 miles through biting winds , blinding snowstorms , and subzero temperatures .
The race will leave sensitive dogs bloodied , sick , and forever scarred , if they make it back at all .
During the opening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ masks and holding signs proclaiming , “ 150+ Dogs Have Died .
Am I Next ?
” and “ Pull Your Own Damned Sled , ” occupied the starting line of the race to protest the event ’ s cruelty .
Less than a week before the race began , Alaska Airlines cut its decades-long ties with the Iditarod and decided that this year would be the last time it sponsors the event .
This comes after the airline heard from nearly 100,000 PETA supporters and faced numerous PETA protests outside its corporate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Baird Private Wealth Management confirmed that it has ended its sponsorship of the Iditarod as well , following a push from PETA .
We ’ ll continue to keep a close eye on the 2020 Iditarod , including what happens with the worst , most abusive mushers .
Continue to check back for updates .
Help End the Iditarod by Asking Companies to Pull Their Sponsorships Up to half of the dogs who start the race don ’ t finish because they ’ re too ill , injured , or exhausted to go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a result of the race , not including countless others who were killed simply because they weren ’ t fast enough or who died while chained up during the off-season .
It ’ s no wonder major companies like Coca-Cola , Costco , Jack Daniel ’ s , State Farm , and Wells Fargo dropped their sponsorships : No one wants dog blood on their hands .
Demand that Chrysler and others stop sponsoring the cruel Iditarod race :


petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-16--Coronavirus Shuts Down Universities, Prompts Mass Killing in Animal Labs

Across the country , school closures caused by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 have led to a mass killing of countless animals who were slated to be used in crude and worthless experiments in university laboratories .
Many experiments that harm animals are now being “ ramped down , curtailed , or delayed , ” causing an increasing number of major universities to order a purge of animals who are not considered “ critical ” to their archaic experiments .
PETA is questioning why billions of taxpayer dollars are being used on experiments that can easily be ended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , are considered “ extraneous ” to the testing in the first place .
Specifically , we are urging every research university receiving public funds to do the following : • Assess the effectiveness of their current and planned experiments in helping humans , the harm to animals used , and the high failure rate of these experiments Which Colleges Are Killing Animals Because of the Coronavirus ?
Johns Hopkins University , Stanford University , the University of California–Berkeley , the University of Washington , and the University of Michigan are among the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ reducing population numbers ” of animals in laboratories .
The novel coronavirus pandemic should be a moral and scientific reckoning for universities that have harmed and killed animals in studies that are expendable .
The mass graves of animals should tell us that cures will only come with human-relevant , non-animal research methods .
Studies show that 90 % of all basic research , most of which involves animals , fails to lead to human treatments .
Also , 95 % of all new medications that test safe and effective in animals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ National Institutes of Health spends half its $ 40 billion research budget on animal tests , mostly at universities .
Some of the taxpayer-funded experiments that PETA condemns as cruel , pointless , and wasteful include the following : • Johns Hopkins University experimenter Shreesh Mysore cuts into the skulls of owls and inserts electrodes into their brains , supposedly to study attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in humans .
• Former Duke University experimenter Michael Platt kept monkeys thirsty in order to force their cooperation in a study on sex and power in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inflicts brain damage on monkeys and then frightens them with rubber snakes and spiders .
You can help animals like these .
Take action now : Let ’ s End Experiments on Animals at Colleges and Universities

Across the country, school closures caused by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus have led to a mass killing of countless animals who were slated to be used in crude and worthless experiments in university laboratories.
Once #COVID19 shutdowns began, a killing spree of animals imprisoned in university labs took off. If these sensitive animals are so easily considered “non-essential,” why does the government spend BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars on horrific experiments every year? pic.twitter.com/BIp41ikUiv — PETA (@peta) August 22, 2020
Many experiments that harm animals are now being “ramped down, curtailed, or delayed,” causing an increasing number of major universities to order a purge of animals who are not considered “critical” to their archaic experiments.
PETA is questioning why billions of taxpayer dollars are being used on experiments that can easily be ended or that involve animals who, apparently, are considered “extraneous” to the testing in the first place.
As thousands of the rodents began to be euthanized—they are typically killed with carbon dioxide, and their necks are broken just to make sure—the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) first called attention to the efforts, blasting them as a “killing spree.” “Why are these animals—when the experiments were approved by the school’s oversight body—now so easily discarded?” asks Kathy Guillermo, a senior vice president at the organization. “Experimenters are again choosing the path of convenience and simply killing animals who should never have been bought, bred, or experimented on in the first place.” Sciencemag.org
Specifically, we are urging every research university receiving public funds to do the following:
Suspend all animal experiments
Assess the effectiveness of their current and planned experiments in helping humans, the harm to animals used, and the high failure rate of these experiments
Make the transition to superior non-animal research methods
Which Colleges Are Killing Animals Because of the Coronavirus?
Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, the University of California–Berkeley, the University of Washington, and the University of Michigan are among the institutions calling on faculty to work on “reducing population numbers” of animals in laboratories.
Because of its COVID-19 shutdown, Washington State University is urging its experimenters to adopt a “depopulation” plan for animals it deems nonessential in their laboratories. We know that mussels were victims of that killing spree, which begs the question: Why were they—or any other animals considered extraneous—ever bought, bred, caught, or experimented on in the first place?
Mussels exhibit individual differences in behavior, and it’s believed that they may know when other mussels have been killed. That’s because in the presence of a large number of broken mussel shells, they grow thicker shells for protection.
The novel coronavirus pandemic should be a moral and scientific reckoning for universities that have harmed and killed animals in studies that are expendable. The mass graves of animals should tell us that cures will only come with human-relevant, non-animal research methods. —PETA neuroscientist Dr. Emily Trunnell
PETA to Feds: Stop Wasting Billions on Animal Tests Deemed Extraneous
PETA has fired off a letter to the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) asking why the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is wasting taxpayer money on animal tests that universities themselves consider to be “extraneous,” despite federal policies that clearly require experimenters to reduce and replace the use of animals in experiments.
In the wake of laboratory shutdowns across the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we told HHS Principal Deputy Inspector General Christi Grimm this:
PETA is questioning why any of these animals on NIH-funded protocols are being bought, bred, trapped, or experimented on in the first place since they’re now so easily disposed of and since experiments are now being ended or delayed. Universities cannot legitimately argue that all animals on NIH-funded protocols are vital to medical research—and that the protocols are indeed worthy of NIH funding—while simultaneously classifying many of the animals as unnecessary and then killing them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s the bottom line: The fact that these experiments are being conducted at universities across the country at a cost to taxpayers of billions of dollars every year is the height of absurdity.
We’re urging HHS to investigate this waste of taxpayer dollars and animals’ lives and ensure that ongoing NIH-funded experiments involving animals deemed non-essential are ended, that new NIH-funded experiments that include such animals will not be approved, and that the breeding and acquisition of such animals for NIH-funded experiments are prohibited.
PETA to Universities: In COVID-19 Shutdown, Who Are You Going to Kill?
UPDATE: PETA has written to numerous universities across the country and in Canada that have directed staff to kill or reduce the number of animals locked in their laboratories because of their shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other things, we’re demanding that schools release the following key information to the public, since many of their animal experiments are funded by taxpayers:
A list of the animal experiments that will not continue since officials categorized them as extraneous, noncritical, non-essential, ramped down, disposable, or unnecessary
The number and species of animals who are used in these experiments
A notice of if, when, and how many of these animals have been and/or will be killed
Healthy mice being flagged for euthanasia at columbia university medical center in manhattan due to lack of staffing due to covid. What a waste pic.twitter.com/hUlW79WHTQ — Lisa laru (@laru_lisa) March 22, 2020
We’ll keep you posted on their responses.
PETA Calls BS on Johns Hopkins’ Denial of Coronavirus Killing Spree
UPDATE: In an interview in the journal Science, the associate director of research animal resources at Johns Hopkins University, Eric Hutchinson, was asked if—as PETA had reported—a directive to purge animals not considered “critical” to experiments had been issued at Johns Hopkins as part of its response to the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.
“On Monday, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claimed that universities were being ordered to purge animals that are not considered critical to experiments. Is anything like this happening at your institutions?”
Hutchinson replied, “I will say categorically that no mice or any other animals have been euthanized in an effort to conserve resources.”
His answer made it seem as if PETA had invented this cruel mandate out of thin air. But unfortunately for Hutchinson, we kept the receipts. In fact, the mandate to “euthanize extraneous animals” at John Hopkins came from Hutchinson himself.
In an e-mail sent to Johns Hopkins’ Animal Use and Care Committee on March 12, Hutchinson directed that beginning on Monday, March 16, “[l]abs should mark cages according to priority…, euthanize extraneous animals, and make provisions for necessary ongoing experimental treatments/procedures.”
It doesn’t end there.
As of March 18, Johns Hopkins’ own “COVID-19 Priority and Ongoing Treatment Form” says the following:
Entire “litters … may be euthanized as space/resources require.”
“Labs should also designate any animals without an immediate/critical experimental purpose that could be prioritized for euthanasia should personnel and resources become scarce in the event of extreme or prolonged disruption of service.”
And, at the time of publishing, the school’s “Animal Research Coronavirus Phased Contingency Plan” instructs staffers to “[r]educe cage census as much as possible,” which appears to be a euphemistic way of saying that they should reduce the population of the cages, i.e., kill animals.
In the Science article, Hutchinson “categorically” denied that any animals had yet “been euthanized in an effort to conserve resources.” While that’s great news—if true—it isn’t an answer to the question he was asked or a denial of PETA’s reporting.
The mandate to kill “extraneous” animals at Johns Hopkins’ laboratories was given. Hutchinson’s answer doesn’t deny that, nor does it claim that animals used in tests won’t be killed in the coming hours, days, or weeks as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
COVID-19 Cover-Up: UC–San Diego Hides Kills of ‘Non-Essential Animals’
UPDATE: In response to PETA’s letter asking, among other things, that the University of California–San Diego (USCD) make public the number and species of animals deemed “non-essential”—and therefore fair game for laboratories to kill—during its COVID-19 shutdown, the school has chosen to take the following cowardly actions:
Ignore our request for this information about animals who UCSD calls “non-essential” Include in its response to us the apparently false claim that California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order “highlights animal research as an essential function,” which it does not Change the previously publicly accessible “Animal Research” section of its “COVID-19 Continuity of Research” webpage to password-only access so that the public cannot see that the university is breeding, buying, and experimenting on “non-essential animals”
Nice try, UCSD.
We kept the receipts and archived the university’s webpage, and as anyone can see, it clearly urges experimenters to cull “non-essential animals,” many of whom are or would be used in experiments funded by taxpayers, the very people UCSD is trying to prevent from seeing the truth.
We reiterate our call that UCSD come clean about the number and species of animals it deems “non-essential” and stop breeding, buying, and experimenting on these animals, who should never have been used in the first place.
PETA to Cornell: COVID-19 Shutdown Kills Which Nonessential Animals?
UPDATE: PETA sent a letter urging Cornell University to make public the number and species of animals in its laboratories likely to be killed during its COVID-19 shutdown because they’ve been deemed not to be “essential,” but the school has chosen to ignore our request for this information. In addition, after it received our letter, Cornell password-protected its previously public COVID-19 page in which it urged experimenters who use rodents and fish “not to exceed 60% of their census as of March 1, 2020.” In other words, the school instructed the experimenters to kill up to 40% of those animals.
We urged Cornell to prohibit permanently all experiments on animals deemed by the school to be not “essential” as well as to suspend the breeding and acquisition of any animals the school put in that category. We argued that the university should adhere to these standards indefinitely, not just during the COVID-19 response period.
Obviously, taxpayer dollars should never have been wasted in the first place on experiments that could be so easily ended. What’s more, Cornell has a long history of animal welfare violations. We urged the school to prohibit staff who’ve committed those violations from carrying out experiments in the future. You guessed it: We’re still waiting to hear about that one, too.
PETA to University of Montana: Who Gets Killed in COVID-19 Shutdown?
UPDATE: In light of its COVID-19 shutdown, the University of Montana has urged its experimenters to reduce “population numbers” of animals in campus laboratories, wrap up their animal experiments, or delay starting new ones.
PETA, in turn, fired off a letter to the school, urging it to make public the number and species of animals it considers extraneous who are likely to be killed in this cull. The university shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer dollars on failed animal experiments that leave patients waiting for treatments and cures, much less on experiments that can easily be ended or on animals it considers to be nonessential to the testing.
In its response, the University of Montana ignored our demand. So we replied urging it to commit to permanently prohibiting animal experiments that are apparently considered noncritical and to stop breeding or acquiring animals deemed as such, rather than having a separate policy that only applies during the COVID-19 response period.
PETA Urges State Auditor to Investigate Apparent Waste at University of Colorado
UPDATE: PETA has sent a letter to Colorado’s state auditor urging her to investigate whether any of the more than $169 million in state taxpayer funds given to the University of Colorado in 2019 was squandered on experiments on animals the university deemed “unnecessary” during its COVID-19 shutdown.
In the lead-up to the shutdown, the University of Colorado–Boulder and the school’s Anschutz Medical Campus issued directives that likely led to the mass killing of animals in laboratories there. In fact, after the university urged experimenters to identify experiments or animal breeding that could be “ramped down, curtailed or delayed,” its Office of Animal Resources (OAR) anticipated so many killings that it added this disturbing note: “OAR will euthanize unnecessary breeders for you, free of charge, in order to prevent crowds near euthanasia stations [emphasis added].”
If an investigation confirms that taxpayer money was wasted on useless, cruel experiments involving animals who were deemed “unnecessary,” the state auditor should ensure that the following things happen:
Any state-funded experiments involving these animals that have restarted should be terminated.
New state-funded experiments involving these animals should not be approved.
The breeding and acquisition of such animals for state-funded research activities should be prohibited.
We’re sending similar letters to a number of other state auditors.
PETA Replies to Universities’ Absurd COVID-Killing Responses
UPDATE: Because of their COVID-19 shutdowns, both the University of Toronto (UT) and Harvard University have halted experiments on their campuses that aren’t considered critical. As with other schools, this begs the question why taxpayer dollars in both Canada and the U.S. are being used in the first place on experiments that can easily be ended or that involve animals who are deemed nonessential.
PETA sent a letter to UT and Harvard urging them to make public which animals they consider extraneous and who are likely to be euthanized in this killing spree. One Harvard experimenter has already admitted to killing hundreds of mice who apparently were not considered essential.
In their replies, neither university responded to our demand. So we once again urged them to commit to permanently prohibiting animal experiments that are apparently considered noncritical and to stop breeding or acquiring animals deemed as such, rather than enacting these measures only during the pandemic.
The University of California–Berkeley and Brown University also decided to ignore our call for transparency in their responses to us. They’re keeping secret which animals in their laboratories have been or will be killed. What we do know is that UC-Berkeley implemented a “ramp down effort” that directed experimenters to finish “critical experiments.” And Brown’s COVID-19 contingency plan calls for the restriction of “non-critical” research. So at this point, how many animals deemed noncritical or nonessential have been killed on these campuses is anyone’s guess.
Both these schools have a shameful history of animal deaths and injuries. For instance, five bats starved to death at Brown when laboratory staff forgot to feed them, and that was when labs were fully staffed before the pandemic. This carelessness doesn’t bode well for animals in laboratories with reduced personnel during the pandemic.
In our letters, PETA demanded that Berkeley and Brown prohibit experimenters who have committed animal welfare violations from carrying out animal testing going forward.
PETA Urges Alabama Department of Public Health to End Experiments on Animals in Universities
UPDATE: PETA has sent a letter to the Alabama Department of Public Health urging it to end experiments on animals in laboratories in that state permanently, beginning with those the University of Alabama–Birmingham had already deemed to be non-essential during the initial COVID-19 shutdown.
In our letter, we point out that limited resources would be wasted should such experiments be allowed to continue:
“Expending precious research resources and taxpayer funds on animal testing—especially experiments and the animals used in them deemed by the institutions themselves to be not ‘essential’—is the height of absurdity and waste and should not continue, nor should laboratory personnel endanger their health for such experiments.”
The letter also lays out the consequences if such experiments are permitted to go on and Alabama shuts down again: “[M]ore animals will undoubtedly be euthanized and money that could otherwise have gone to more effective and human-relevant, non-animal studies benefiting public health will be wasted.”
We’re sending similar letters to a number of other state health departments.
Virginia Tech Tries to Cover Up Animal Deaths in Labs, PETA Exposes Receipts
Update: December 1, 2020
Armed with damning internal documents, PETA sent a letter today to Virginia Tech’s (VT) president, Timothy D. Sands, calling out the university’s misleading public claim that it “did not mandate any animals to be euthanized due to COVID-19,” citing records showing that VT laboratories deemed animals expendable and killed them in response to the pandemic. Accordingly, PETA is calling on the university to reimburse any public funds used for the experiments.
“Given that Virginia Tech deemed numerous experiments and the animals used for them to be non-essential, the animals shouldn’t have been bought, bred, trapped, or experimented on in the first place,” says PETA Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA urges Virginia Tech to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and animals’ lives on pointless experiments and to pursue superior, animal-free research.”
PETA Confirms COVID-19 Killings, Demands Audits of Wasted Tax Money
Update: February 17, 2021
PETA has obtained documents via Freedom of Information Act requests that confirm that the University of Colorado–Boulder, the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC), and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) deemed animals used in taxpayer-funded experiments unnecessary and euthanized them per the schools’ directives urging that staff ramp down laboratory experiments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. PETA has sent letters to the schools calling on them to reimburse all taxpayer funds wasted in this purge, pointing out that if they can label animals as extraneous, they shouldn’t have been bought, bred, or experimented on in the first place.
CU-Boulder bred these “unnecessary” animals for crude and useless experiments, including ones that induce crippling muscle injuries and lethal mutations that affect neural development. UMKC bred animals it later deemed non-essential for experiments that induce debilitating eye injuries and expose animals to strenuous bone and muscle exertion, among other issues. OHSU also killed animals it determined were extraneous, including mice who were to be injected with toxins to induce liver cancer and mice who’d be genetically manipulated to develop brain defects in a futile effort to study autism—which does not affect mice. Pups in this experiment would have been forced to balance on a spinning rod and endure other stressful tests. We’ve also sent a letter to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Management Assessment urging it to recoup more than $5.4 million of taxpayers’ money that NIH cumulatively wasted in funding these experiments. And we sent letters to several NIH agencies and state auditors urging them to audit and recover the public funds misspent on these experiments.
We’ll be sending similar letters after we obtain documents proving that other universities had deemed animals used in taxpayer-funded experiments as unnecessary and euthanized them.
After Rutgers Kills 23,000 Animals, It Gets Tax Bailout—PETA Demands an Audit
Update: November 18, 2021
Nearly 23,000 mice who were deemed part of “non-critical” experiments were killed during the COVID-19 shutdown at Rutgers University’s laboratories. What’s more, this shocking number was exposed by Rutgers’ own student newspaper, yet the school still cowardly refuses to confirm that any mass killing occurred, despite the proof in its own documents.
In 2020, a whistleblower leaked evidence to PETA that Rutgers had suspended nonessential experiments and enacted a plan that involved euthanizing animals. We sent a letter to the school’s president demanding to know why it conducts animal experiments (most often funded with tax dollars) apparently considered extraneous in the first place, but we received no response.
PETA is leading the fight against the waste of taxpayer dollars used for extraneous experiments on animals at universities across the country. We have written to the National Institutes of Health demanding an investigation into the failure of Rutgers—which received more than $98 million from the federal agency as well as nearly $437 million in direct state operating aid in fiscal year 2021—to minimize its use of animals as required by federal policies. We’ve also written to the New Jersey state auditor about the university’s lack of transparency and waste of taxpayer money and to demand an audit. Furthermore, we wrote to the university’s president to insist on the refund of taxpayer funds wasted on extraneous experiments on animals. There is no excuse for Rutgers’ rampant waste of life and valuable resources.
PETA Confirms COVID-19 Killings at UConn and UW-Madison, Demands Reimbursement of Wasted Tax Money
Update: March 30, 2022
PETA has obtained disturbing documents confirming that the University of Connecticut (UConn) and the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW) deemed animals used in taxpayer-funded experiments extraneous and euthanized them during the ramp down of experiments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We’ve sent letters to the schools calling on them to reimburse the taxpayer money wasted in these bloodbaths, which were carried out per the schools’ directives. In the letters, we point out what should be obvious: If animals can be labeled extraneous, they shouldn’t have been bought, bred, or experimented on in the first place.
At the beginning of the pandemic, UConn issued a directive to “immediately reduce animal numbers.” As a result, rabbits in the laboratory of UConn experimenter Harvey Swadlow were killed. His curiosity-driven experiments involve surgically fixing a stainless steel bar to the rabbits’ heads, restraining their bodies, and depriving them of food and water in attempts to study visual processing. Taxpayer losses related to those experiments amounted to $2 million.
A masterclass in euphemisms from @UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz. Here, "the researcher elected to end the participation of two rabbits involved in a research study" actually means "the researcher killed two rabbits". 1/2https://t.co/beATUEFK76 — David Richards (@DavidInProgress) April 6, 2022
Similarly, after UW-Madison issued an edict early in the pandemic that “[a]ll on-site research activities must be approved by a dean or director, who are directed to only approve essential research,” mice who were to be used in a devised by experimenter Laura Knoll were killed. That experiment involved infecting mice with toxoplasmosis and destroying their immune systems with full-body radiation as well as injecting female mice with hormones to induce ovulation and then removing their reproductive tracts after they were killed. Taxpayer losses related to this experiment were more than $1.1 million.
We’ve also sent letters to several National Institutes of Health agencies and the state auditors in Connecticut and Wisconsin, urging them to audit and recover the public funds misspent on these experiments. These examples of waste and loss of life highlight the urgent need to end all experiments on animals.
Experiments on Animals Must End
Studies show that 90% of all basic research, most of which involves animals, fails to lead to human treatments. Also, 95% of all new medications that test safe and effective in animals fail in human trials. Yet the National Institutes of Health spends half its $40 billion research budget on animal tests, mostly at universities.
Some of the taxpayer-funded experiments that PETA condemns as cruel, pointless, and wasteful include the following:
Johns Hopkins University experimenter Shreesh Mysore cuts into the skulls of owls and inserts electrodes into their brains, supposedly to study attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in humans.
Former Duke University experimenter Michael Platt kept monkeys thirsty in order to force their cooperation in a study on sex and power in advertising.
Government experimenter Elisabeth Murray inflicts brain damage on monkeys and then frightens them with rubber snakes and spiders.


petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-16--Chrysler Dealership Is 3rd Major Sponsor to Cut Ties With Iditarod This Month

We e-mailed , we picketed , we smashed cars , we refused to back down , and WE 👏 DID 👏 IT 👏 Nine days into the 2020 Iditarod , Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ( FCA ) confirmed that its Anchorage dealership will finally cut ties with the Alaska dogsled death race .
Thanks to a massive PETA campaign , Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Center—an independently owned FCA dealership that has sponsored the Iditarod since 2007—has decided to drop its support of the race after this year ’ s event .
This victory wouldn ’ t have been achieved without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 250,000 e-mails to Chrysler urging it to cut ties with the race .
Our members and supporters also helped us hold more than a dozen protests across the country featuring costumed “ dogs ” smashing cars … … and more .
Our ad blitz opened eyes , too—the ads played on television stations near the company ’ s Detroit headquarters and showed viewers the widespread neglect and suffering endured by dogs used in the Iditarod .
These dogs are forced to run about 1,000 miles through biting winds , blinding snowstorms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ half of those who start the race don ’ t finish because they ’ re too ill , injured , or exhausted to go on .
So far this year , more than 140 dogs have been dropped—and musher Nicolas Petit is continuing to force the dogs on his team to run despite reports that all of them have vomited , three have had frostbite , and one nearly needed stitches .
More than 150 dogs have died as a result of the race , not including countless others who were killed simply @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or who died during the off-season while chained outdoors , a standard practice seen in the PETA undercover investigation video above .
The Iditarod is losing sponsors left and right .
In early March , longtime Iditarod sponsor Alaska Airlines cut ties with the cruel , deadly race , followed by Baird Private Wealth Management just two days later .
They join Coca-Cola , Costco , Jack Daniel ’ s , Maxwell House , Nestlé , Panasonic , Pizza Hut , Rite Aid , Safeway , State Farm , and Wells Fargo in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after hearing from PETA .
They are individuals with wants and needs who should never be forced to participate in a death race .
But mushers are pushing dogs to the brink and beyond , just for a cash prize and bragging rights .
These dogs are just as deserving of kindness as the dogs we share our homes with .
We ’ re urging the Iditarod to make this year the last year it uses dogs , as the abusive spectacle is losing sponsors left and right .
Click on the link @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Ask Millennium Hotels and Resorts to Stop Sponsoring Cruelty to Dogs We ’ re keeping a close eye on the 2020 Iditarod , including what happens with the worst , most abusive mushers .
Check back for updates .

We e-mailed, we picketed, we smashed cars, we refused to back down, and WE 👏 DID 👏 IT 👏
Nine days into the 2020 Iditarod, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) confirmed that its Anchorage dealership will finally cut ties with the Alaska dogsled death race.
Thanks to a massive PETA campaign, Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Center—an independently owned FCA dealership that has sponsored the Iditarod since 2007—has decided to drop its support of the race after this year’s event.
This victory wouldn’t have been achieved without kind folks like you. You sent more than 250,000 e-mails to Chrysler urging it to cut ties with the race. Our members and supporters also helped us hold more than a dozen protests across the country featuring costumed “dogs” smashing cars …
… activists chained to Chryslers …
… protesters dragging a sled full of “dead dogs” around downtown Detroit …
… and more. Our ad blitz opened eyes, too—the ads played on television stations near the company’s Detroit headquarters and showed viewers the widespread neglect and suffering endured by dogs used in the Iditarod.
These dogs are forced to run about 1,000 miles through biting winds, blinding snowstorms, and subzero temperatures. More than half of those who start the race don’t finish because they’re too ill, injured, or exhausted to go on. So far this year, more than 140 dogs have been dropped—and musher Nicolas Petit is continuing to force the dogs on his team to run despite reports that all of them have vomited, three have had frostbite, and one nearly needed stitches.
More than 150 dogs have died as a result of the race, not including countless others who were killed simply because they weren’t fast enough or who died during the off-season while chained outdoors, a standard practice seen in the PETA undercover investigation video above.
The Iditarod is losing sponsors left and right.
In early March, longtime Iditarod sponsor Alaska Airlines cut ties with the cruel, deadly race, followed by Baird Private Wealth Management just two days later. They join Coca-Cola, Costco, Jack Daniel’s, Maxwell House, Nestlé, Panasonic, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, Safeway, State Farm, and Wells Fargo in having ended their support of the Iditarod after hearing from PETA.
Dogs are not snowmobiles.
They are individuals with wants and needs who should never be forced to participate in a death race. But mushers are pushing dogs to the brink and beyond, just for a cash prize and bragging rights. These dogs are just as deserving of kindness as the dogs we share our homes with. We’re urging the Iditarod to make this year the last year it uses dogs, as the abusive spectacle is losing sponsors left and right. Click on the link below if you’re with us.
We’re keeping a close eye on the 2020 Iditarod, including what happens with the worst, most abusive mushers. Check back for updates.


petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-08--2020 Iditarod Death Race Updates From PETA—Get the Latest News

Victory !
Nine days into the 2020 Iditarod , Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ( FCA ) confirmed that its Anchorage dealership will finally cut ties with the Alaskan dogsled death race .
Following a massive PETA campaign , Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Center—an independently owned FCA dealership that has sponsored the Iditarod since 2007—will drop its support of the race after this year ’ s event .
In early March , longtime Iditarod sponsor Alaska Airlines cut ties with the cruel , deadly race , followed by Baird Private Wealth Management just two days later .
They join Coca-Cola , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Maxwell House , Nestlé , Panasonic , Pizza Hut , Rite Aid , Safeway , State Farm , and Wells Fargo in ending their support of the Iditarod after hearing from PETA .
But our work isn ’ t done yet .
Dogs are still suffering .
Keep reading to learn more about this year ’ s race and find out how you can take action to help them today .
2020 Iditarod musher Matthew Failor is facing heat after one of the dogs he uses , Cool Cat , nearly died from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forced this senior dog to run hard , and she developed twisted intestines and almost died .
Instead of staying with her while she recovered , he kept right on racing for the cash prize .
Unsurprisingly , Failor appears to keep the dogs at his facility chained to boxes , a practice previously revealed in PETA ’ s exposé of former Iditarod champion mushers ’ facilities .
For some dogs forced to run the deadly sled race , the 2020 Iditarod truly just became a trial by fire .
According to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , current Iditarod leader Jessie Royer accidentally set her own sled on fire sometime before reaching the checkpoint in Ruby , Alaska .
In the clip below , she admits that the fire burned a bag of protective snow booties that dogs wear on their feet along with other supplies .
It ’ s unclear from the interview if she has more booties for her dogs to wear .
When Royer became the first musher to arrive at the Ruby checkpoint , she was greeted with a five-course “ gourmet meal ” and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , her dogs were left outside in the cold , prohibited from taking shelter , waiting for whatever might come next .
Animals aren ’ t sporting equipment .
They aren ’ t tools , and they aren ’ t gourmet meals , either .
It ’ s speciesist to believe that some animals are servants , some are soup , and only a select few are worthy of our consideration and empathy .
Dogs forced to run the Iditarod are no different physiologically from other dogs .
It ’ s only a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes another careless mistake that could cost a dog their life .
Despite initial reports that Nicolas Petit would scratch from the Iditarod after admitting that all the dogs on his team vomited and that three of them had frostbite , it now seems clear that he is forcing them all to continue .
In an interview , Petit described what had happened on the trail , saying , “ Oh , another one pukes , oh , then another one is puking , ” and he admitted that he had had to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the dogs would choke if he or she threw up while panting .
The leading cause of death for dogs on the Iditarod trail is aspiration pneumonia caused by inhaling their own vomit .
Petit also stated that one dog bit another one on his team in the face so severely that the wound nearly needed stitches .
Last year , Petit was a frontrunner in the race until his dogs refused to continue running .
Illness , injury , or exhaustion likely prompted him to drop four dogs from his team @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dogs were forced to work even harder—before they gave up altogether .
Everyone should be asking the Iditarod why these dogs are still being forced to run .
If Petit cared about these dogs , he wouldn ’ t be forcing them to run a 1,000-mile race in which they die , year after year .
He ’ s seen firsthand how devastating this race is for dogs , yet for some reason , he continues to torture them in this frozen hellscape .
Musher John Schandelmeier claims that he has no desire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finish the deadly Iditarod , which begs the question , “ Why not spare the dogs and yourself the misery and just drop out now ?
” Schandelmeier became a last-minute substitute for his wife , Zoya DeNure , who dropped out because of a heart condition .
He has already suffered frostbite on his hands and toes and has a lingering leg injury as a result of a bacterial infection from last year .
How can he be expected to care for the dogs during the next several hundred miles of dangerous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like , ‘ Oh , I want to run the Iditarod.
’ I ’ ve never had that desire .
It ’ s not something on my wish list , ” said Schandelmeier , according to Anchorage Daily News .
You may remember that DeNure came forward to report that some trainers in the industry kill “ hundreds on top of hundreds or more dogs ” because they don ’ t run fast enough to make the team .
She called out musher Dallas Seavey ’ s kennels as being among those that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or fit enough and wrote , “ Sadly , this has been going on in the family ‘ dynasty ’ for decades.
” PETA urges Schandelmeier to drop out now .
In other developments , 79-year-old Jim Lanier scratched “ after concerns for his own well-being ” according to Iditarod officials .
He was originally banned from the Iditarod this year over concerns for his health and his ability to care for his dogs during the race .
A petition from mushers and fans compelled the Iditarod to reverse his ban .
Apparently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the well-being of the dogs .
Lanier didn ’ t race last year , but in 2018 another musher came across him stuck and starting to freeze .
The 2020 Iditarod death race has begun .
For roughly two weeks , hundreds of dogs will be forced to run about 1,000 miles through biting winds , blinding snowstorms , and subzero temperatures .
The race will leave sensitive dogs bloodied , sick , and forever scarred , if they make it back at all .
During the opening ceremony , PETA activists wearing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ 150+ Dogs Have Died .
Am I Next ?
” and “ Pull Your Own Damned Sled , ” occupied the starting line of the race to protest the event ’ s cruelty .
Less than a week before the race began , Alaska Airlines cut its decades-long ties with the Iditarod and decided that this year would be the last time it sponsors the event .
This comes after the airline heard from nearly 100,000 PETA supporters and faced numerous PETA protests outside its corporate headquarters .
Just two days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it has ended its sponsorship of the Iditarod as well , following a push from PETA .
We ’ ll continue to keep a close eye on the 2020 Iditarod , including what happens with the worst , most abusive mushers .
Continue to check back for updates .
Help End the Iditarod by Asking Companies to Pull Their Sponsorships Up to half of the dogs who start the race don ’ t finish because they ’ re too ill , injured , or exhausted to go on—and more than 150 dogs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ race , not including countless others who were killed simply because they weren ’ t fast enough or who died while chained up during the off-season .
It ’ s no wonder major companies like Coca-Cola , Costco , Jack Daniel ’ s , State Farm , and Wells Fargo dropped their sponsorships : No one wants dog blood on their hands .
Demand that Chrysler and others stop sponsoring the cruel Iditarod race :

Update: March 22, 2020
The 2020 Iditarod race is now officially over. The last musher, Kaci Murringer, crossed the finish line with exhausted dogs in tow this afternoon.
Below, you’ll find a roundup of horrific incidents that occurred during the 2020 Iditarod, which shows why PETA and concerned people everywhere are calling on this cruel event to end:
Nicolas Petit forced his dogs to continue the race even after all of them reportedly vomited, one was injured in a fight with another dog, and three got frostbite. He finally stopped racing at mile 852, likely because the dogs simply couldn’t run any farther.
Jessie Royer accidentally set her own sled on fire.
A senior dog used by Matthew Failor named Cool Cat developed twisted intestines and almost died of painful bloat.
Mitch Seavey—already the subject of a recent PETA undercover investigation that found that dogs were chained up, denied veterinary care, and even killed during training—reportedly threw a dog down and pinned her muzzle to the ground while on the race’s livestream. He previously admitted to beating, depriving, and neglecting dogs.
Thomas Waerner—who chains his dogs to wooden boxes in the snow at his kennel (a common practice for mushers)—left behind four dogs he pushed beyond the breaking point during the race.
Richie Diehl admitted that he dropped out of the race because five dogs had coughs and were showing signs of the beginning stages of pneumonia.
As of March 20, a dog named Betty used by John Schandelmeier was in critical condition with pneumonia and dogs Thunder and Charlotte weren’t eating, had lost a lot of weight, and had fevers, diarrhea, and persistent coughs.
Three mushers had to call for rescue after running dogs through part of the trail blocked by seawater overflow. Rescuers reportedly found the mushers in sleeping bags, and they required oxygen. But there was no word as to the conditions of the wet dogs in the below-freezing temperatures.
More than 220 dogs were pulled off the trail because of exhaustion, illness, injury, and other causes, leaving the rest to have to work even harder.
These instances are in addition to ongoing complaints surrounding the Iditarod, including the deaths of more than 150 dogs since the race began.
From vomiting and frostbitten dogs to exhaustion, illness, and injury so severe that dogs were removed from the trail, the 2020 Iditarod stayed the course in terms of cruelty. Dogs will suffer horribly as long as this despicable race continues, which is why PETA is calling for this year to be its last.
PETA notes that forcing dogs to run hundreds of miles through ice and snow for a musher’s prize purse is a form of speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. This event is truly a matter of life or death for dogs.
For full coverage of the events described above, continue reading.
Update: March 21, 2020
The deadly race continued on March 20 as three mushers called for rescue from the Alaska National Guard when they realized part of the trail was flooded. In the dark, they apparently couldn’t see that the trail was blocked by seawater overflow, so the dogs ran through part of it. Rescuers reportedly found the mushers in sleeping bags, and they required oxygen. But there was no word as to the conditions of the wet dogs in the below-freezing temperatures.
And that’s not the only dangerous spot dogs are in. Musher Nicolas Petit—who previously admitted that all the dogs he forced to race were vomiting, three had frostbite, and one almost needed stitches—scratched on March 17 when he sent out a distress call after getting lost in a blizzard. Eleven other mushers are stuck in Elim waiting out a “nasty storm,” yet Petit evidently still plans to force the dogs to run all the way to Nome.
And after musher Richie Diehl scratched on March 16, he said that one of the dogs he used, Magic, had a “slight cough.” But soon, veterinarians said that four more dogs had coughs and that they along with Magic were showing signs of the beginning stages of pneumonia.
Betty, one of the dogs musher John Schandelmeier used, was in critical condition as of March 20 with pneumonia and had been on oxygen for at least 36 hours at an emergency clinic. Schandelmeier’s wife, Zoya, said that two dogs they used, Thunder and Charlotte, had fevers, weren’t eating, and had “diarrhea, consistent coughing and noses full of slime.” When she picked them up, she said, “I didn’t even recognize my own team. [They] were so gaunt, still, weak and fading.”
It’s past time for the Iditarod to end. Stay tuned for more news from this year’s dangerous and deadly race, and help dogs today!
Update: March 18, 2020
Thomas Waerner’s ‘win’ of the 2020 Iditarod this morning is cause for reflection, not celebration.
With approximately 180 dogs pulled from the Iditarod so far because of exhaustion, injuries, and illnesses such as life-threatening bloat—and mushers forcing dogs to continue in the face of vomiting and frostbite, sled fires, and last-minute substitutions—no musher’s finish warrants a celebration. When Waerner left behind four dogs he pushed beyond the breaking point during the race and chains up dogs desperate for love and warmth next to wooden boxes in the snow, it’s clear why PETA’s call for this despicable race to end is spot on.
Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Center, Alaska Airlines, and Baird Private Wealth Management have all cut ties with the race in just the last two weeks. They join Coca-Cola, Costco, Jack Daniel’s, Maxwell House, Nestlé, Panasonic, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, Safeway, State Farm, and Wells Fargo in ending their support of the Iditarod after hearing from PETA, which is calling on Millennium Hotels and Resorts to follow suit.
Update: March 17, 2020
Mitch Seavey previously admitted to beating, depriving, and neglecting dogs and PETA’s exposé of his facility found dogs chained up and even killed during training, so new reports that he threw a dog down and pinned her muzzle to the ground during this week’s race come as no shock. Just as some hunters are appalled by canned hunts, Iditarod supporters seem to be speaking out against behavior that even they deem to be cruel—and if this insider’s allegations are true, Seavey should face a police investigation and be banned from racing. Regardless, it is time for the cruel Iditarod to be relegated to the history books.
Update: March 16, 2020
Victory! Nine days into the 2020 Iditarod, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) confirmed that its Anchorage dealership will finally cut ties with the Alaskan dogsled death race.
Following a massive PETA campaign, Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Center—an independently owned FCA dealership that has sponsored the Iditarod since 2007—will drop its support of the race after this year’s event.
In early March, longtime Iditarod sponsor Alaska Airlines cut ties with the cruel, deadly race, followed by Baird Private Wealth Management just two days later. They join Coca-Cola, Costco, Jack Daniel’s, Maxwell House, Nestlé, Panasonic, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, Safeway, State Farm, and Wells Fargo in ending their support of the Iditarod after hearing from PETA.
But our work isn’t done yet. Dogs are still suffering. Keep reading to learn more about this year’s race and find out how you can take action to help them today.
Update: March 15, 2020
2020 Iditarod musher Matthew Failor is facing heat after one of the dogs he uses, Cool Cat, nearly died from a painful condition called bloat. Failor forced this senior dog to run hard, and she developed twisted intestines and almost died. Instead of staying with her while she recovered, he kept right on racing for the cash prize.
Unsurprisingly, Failor appears to keep the dogs at his facility chained to boxes, a practice previously revealed in PETA’s exposé of former Iditarod champion mushers’ facilities.
Update: March 14, 2020
For some dogs forced to run the deadly sled race, the 2020 Iditarod truly just became a trial by fire. According to a video released by Anchorage-area NBC affiliate KTUU, current Iditarod leader Jessie Royer accidentally set her own sled on fire sometime before reaching the checkpoint in Ruby, Alaska. In the clip below, she admits that the fire burned a bag of protective snow booties that dogs wear on their feet along with other supplies. It’s unclear from the interview if she has more booties for her dogs to wear.
When Royer became the first musher to arrive at the Ruby checkpoint, she was greeted with a five-course “gourmet meal” and a bottle of Dom Pérignon. Meanwhile, her dogs were left outside in the cold, prohibited from taking shelter, waiting for whatever might come next.
Animals aren’t sporting equipment. They aren’t tools, and they aren’t gourmet meals, either. It’s speciesist to believe that some animals are servants, some are soup, and only a select few are worthy of our consideration and empathy. Dogs forced to run the Iditarod are no different physiologically from other dogs.
It’s only a matter of time before an exhausted musher makes another careless mistake that could cost a dog their life.
Update: March 12, 2020
Despite initial reports that Nicolas Petit would scratch from the Iditarod after admitting that all the dogs on his team vomited and that three of them had frostbite, it now seems clear that he is forcing them all to continue.
In an interview, Petit described what had happened on the trail, saying, “Oh, another one pukes, oh, then another one is puking,” and he admitted that he had had to slow down out of fear that one of the dogs would choke if he or she threw up while panting. The leading cause of death for dogs on the Iditarod trail is aspiration pneumonia caused by inhaling their own vomit.
Petit also stated that one dog bit another one on his team in the face so severely that the wound nearly needed stitches.
Last year, Petit was a frontrunner in the race until his dogs refused to continue running. Illness, injury, or exhaustion likely prompted him to drop four dogs from his team. This meant that the remaining 10 dogs were forced to work even harder—before they gave up altogether.
Everyone should be asking the Iditarod why these dogs are still being forced to run. If Petit cared about these dogs, he wouldn’t be forcing them to run a 1,000-mile race in which they die, year after year. He’s seen firsthand how devastating this race is for dogs, yet for some reason, he continues to torture them in this frozen hellscape.
Update: March 12, 2020
Musher John Schandelmeier claims that he has no desire to force dogs to race or to finish the deadly Iditarod, which begs the question, “Why not spare the dogs and yourself the misery and just drop out now?”
Schandelmeier became a last-minute substitute for his wife, Zoya DeNure, who dropped out because of a heart condition. He has already suffered frostbite on his hands and toes and has a lingering leg injury as a result of a bacterial infection from last year. How can he be expected to care for the dogs during the next several hundred miles of dangerous trial?
“It’s not like, ‘Oh, I want to run the Iditarod.’ I’ve never had that desire. It’s not something on my wish list,” said Schandelmeier, according to Anchorage Daily News.
You may remember that DeNure came forward to report that some trainers in the industry kill “hundreds on top of hundreds or more dogs” because they don’t run fast enough to make the team. She called out musher Dallas Seavey’s kennels as being among those that kill dogs who aren’t fast or fit enough and wrote, “Sadly, this has been going on in the family ‘dynasty’ for decades.”
PETA urges Schandelmeier to drop out now.
In other developments, 79-year-old Jim Lanier scratched “after concerns for his own well-being” according to Iditarod officials. He was originally banned from the Iditarod this year over concerns for his health and his ability to care for his dogs during the race. A petition from mushers and fans compelled the Iditarod to reverse his ban. Apparently, none of these petitioners cared about the well-being of the dogs. Lanier didn’t race last year, but in 2018 another musher came across him stuck and starting to freeze.
Another musher, Tom Knolmayer, suffered frostbite in his eyes as temperatures on the trail dropped to -30 degrees. While Knolmayer gets to sleep indoors at the checkpoints, the dogs are forced to sleep outside in these subzero temperatures. Knolmayer’s vision is likely obscured which puts him and the dogs he’s forcing to run at risk.
Originally published March 7, 2020:
The 2020 Iditarod death race has begun. For roughly two weeks, hundreds of dogs will be forced to run about 1,000 miles through biting winds, blinding snowstorms, and subzero temperatures. The race will leave sensitive dogs bloodied, sick, and forever scarred, if they make it back at all.
During the opening ceremony, PETA activists wearing three-dimensional husky masks and holding signs proclaiming, “150+ Dogs Have Died. Am I Next?” and “Pull Your Own Damned Sled,” occupied the starting line of the race to protest the event’s cruelty.
Less than a week before the race began, Alaska Airlines cut its decades-long ties with the Iditarod and decided that this year would be the last time it sponsors the event. This comes after the airline heard from nearly 100,000 PETA supporters and faced numerous PETA protests outside its corporate headquarters. Just two days later, Baird Private Wealth Management confirmed that it has ended its sponsorship of the Iditarod as well, following a push from PETA.
https://business.facebook.com/official.peta/videos/188844259079345/?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBFQqDoBZHNnIUW7hZ2GbMkhqpCAmf5cWUwB3oLqC8gjzZknPgccSUCYij7a6ij2XieSr7ZkYtfcHa5oPYOJuDR3Omj3erUU0WcrQ9emP74EOA6zTE226l2UNBXBzOqCQxmtmU8klMeY1XCcZE4LsiC2xuvz1QXdQqCBETu3cYbxcCnb7Ms65XbxzUcNxOtAp5aOEks-eUcGKFp8ZIjsxtPcP1L2NsoWK0iis_x-jtXIJq6q3actGkRcOblcy1WguDLLZBHQrSO0A38oRsyBz04EVsruFVj0IcxdX7lSYFIyQBrmC554bthoCiyDdtrWyC1KHa9bz8joRgYgjBBos15&__tn__=-R
We’ll continue to keep a close eye on the 2020 Iditarod, including what happens with the worst, most abusive mushers. Continue to check back for updates.
Help End the Iditarod by Asking Companies to Pull Their Sponsorships
Up to half of the dogs who start the race don’t finish because they’re too ill, injured, or exhausted to go on—and more than 150 dogs have died as a result of the race, not including countless others who were killed simply because they weren’t fast enough or who died while chained up during the off-season.
It’s no wonder major companies like Coca-Cola, Costco, Jack Daniel’s, State Farm, and Wells Fargo dropped their sponsorships: No one wants dog blood on their hands.
Demand that companies stop sponsoring the cruel Iditarod race:


petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-16--Coronavirus Vaccine: NIH Isn’t Waiting for Pointless Animal Tests

Here at PETA , we ’ ve been saying for years that experiments on animals are pointless—they slow down the search for treatments and cures for human disease .
Moreover , all the poisoning , shocking , burning , and killing is unethical and cruel .
Many other scientists and experts agree .
But when it comes to a new coronavirus vaccine , the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) is finally heeding PETA ’ s call—according to BBC News , the agency isn ’ t waiting for the typical , lengthy animal-testing phase and is instead heading straight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t stop all tests on animals for the vaccine , it should pave the way for safe straight-to-human vaccine trials from now on .
In Seattle , 45 healthy , willing volunteers have reportedly agreed to partake in the first human trial of a vaccine , funded by NIH , that could protect against COVID-19 , the novel , SARS-like coronavirus ( which has apparently been traced back to live animals who were closely confined , shipped , killed , and eaten ) that has much of the world in a fearful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other animals can ’ t be willing participants in experiments .
Unlike humans , animals can ’ t agree to being experimented on .
And if they could , they likely wouldn ’ t consent to being mutilated , poisoned , infected with painful and deadly diseases , burned , electrocuted , shot , addicted to drugs , or psychologically tortured and eventually killed .
Refusing to condemn animals to a life of pain , loneliness , and terror shouldn ’ t be reserved for urgent public health priorities—it should be standard practice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end the use of animals in experiments .
This includes working to phase out animal tests at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , collaborating with members of Congress to stop cruel studies , and persuading major corporations , other government agencies , and universities to abandon animal tests in favor of modern , non-animal methods .
With the help of our members and supporters , we ’ re leading the way to the future—one that doesn ’ t include cruel , archaic tests on animals .
We do this partly because experiments on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expensive—they ’ re also overwhelmingly inapplicable to humans .
NIH itself reports that 95 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail in humans .
Experiments on animals divert time and funding from better , non-animal methods .
And experts know it .
Regardless of the lack of tests on animals , Moderna Therapeutics—the company behind the new coronavirus vaccine—reportedly says that “ the vaccine has been made using a tried and tested process.
” All vaccines , drugs , treatments , and products should be “ made using a tried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t include nonconsenting animals .
Click on the link below if you ’ re with us—help us stop NIH experimenter Elisabeth Murray ’ s “ monkey fright ” experiments : For Animals ’ Sakes , Demand Better From NIH

Here at PETA, we’ve been saying for years that experiments on animals are pointless—they slow down the search for treatments and cures for human disease. Moreover, all the poisoning, shocking, burning, and killing is unethical and cruel. Many other scientists and experts agree. But when it comes to a new coronavirus vaccine, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is finally heeding PETA’s call—according to BBC News, the agency isn’t waiting for the typical, lengthy animal-testing phase and is instead heading straight for human trials. While this won’t stop all tests on animals for the vaccine, it should pave the way for safe straight-to-human vaccine trials from now on.
45 healthy volunteers set to take part in first human trial of potential coronavirus vaccine https://t.co/J4oFLDOBLJ — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 16, 2020
In Seattle, 45 healthy, willing volunteers have reportedly agreed to partake in the first human trial of a vaccine, funded by NIH, that could protect against COVID-19, the novel, SARS-like coronavirus (which has apparently been traced back to live animals who were closely confined, shipped, killed, and eaten) that has much of the world in a fearful frenzy.
Rats, mice, and other animals can’t be willing participants in experiments.
Unlike humans, animals can’t agree to being experimented on. And if they could, they likely wouldn’t consent to being mutilated, poisoned, infected with painful and deadly diseases, burned, electrocuted, shot, addicted to drugs, or psychologically tortured and eventually killed.
Refusing to condemn animals to a life of pain, loneliness, and terror shouldn’t be reserved for urgent public health priorities—it should be standard practice.
We work globally to expose and end the use of animals in experiments. This includes working to phase out animal tests at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, collaborating with members of Congress to stop cruel studies, and persuading major corporations, other government agencies, and universities to abandon animal tests in favor of modern, non-animal methods. With the help of our members and supporters, we’re leading the way to the future—one that doesn’t include cruel, archaic tests on animals.
We do this partly because experiments on animals aren’t just cruel and expensive—they’re also overwhelmingly inapplicable to humans.
NIH itself reports that 95 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail in humans. Experiments on animals divert time and funding from better, non-animal methods. And experts know it. Regardless of the lack of tests on animals, Moderna Therapeutics—the company behind the new coronavirus vaccine—reportedly says that “the vaccine has been made using a tried and tested process.”
All vaccines, drugs, treatments, and products should be “made using a tried and tested process” that doesn’t include nonconsenting animals. Click on the link below if you’re with us—urge NIH and the National Institute on Aging not to squander taxpayer dollars on cruel and worthless experiments on marmosets:


petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-17--Funds Wasted on Animal Tests While the World Awaits Coronavirus Treatment

The National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) experimenter Elisabeth Murray doesn ’ t want us to see monkeys—who are capable of suffering , just like you and me—being inflicted with brain damage , locked inside cages , and then terrified with fake spiders and snakes .
“ You know , to be honest with you , we don ’ t usually take photos of that sort of thing because we are all afraid they ’ ll fall into the wrong hands , ” Murray once said in an interview with Ingrid Farreras of the NIH Office of History .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ undoubtedly referring to belong to us—the taxpayers who have been bankrolling NIH ’ s sadistic and worthless “ monkey fright ” experiments , many unwittingly .
However , thanks to the Freedom of Information Act , we ’ re blowing the lid off the whole thing and shining a spotlight on the footage Murray doesn ’ t want any of us to see .
This monkey , for example , didn ’ t want to be inflicted with permanent , traumatic brain damage , which occurred after Murray cut into his head , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and injected toxins into his brain .
There ’ s no way this monkey wanted to be placed alone inside a small metal cage , possibly after Murray or another experimenter had suctioned out or burned part of his brain .
This monkey—shaking the bars of his cage—should never have been frightened with rubber snakes or spiders , wooden mechanical snakes , or fake jumping spiders .
And this monkey , scared and alone , certainly didn ’ t sign up to be deliberately terrified and then abused in other horrific experiments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tests shed light on human neuropsychiatric disorders , but not a single treatment or cure for humans has come out of them in 30 years .
In the past 13 years alone , Murray has received more than $ 36 million in taxpayer money—our money—for these “ psychology ” experiments .
So while Americans wait for cures for deadly diseases , NIH—the U.S. ’ premier health agency—is sucking out parts of monkeys ’ brains and then scaring them with “ snakes ” and “ spiders.
” NIH must shut down this horrific laboratory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ research methods that benefit humans , and retire the surviving monkeys to sanctuaries .
Click on the link below if you ’ re with us :

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) experimenter Elisabeth Murray doesn’t want us to see monkeys—who are capable of suffering, just like you and me—being inflicted with brain damage, locked inside cages, and then terrified with fake spiders and snakes.
“You know, to be honest with you, we don’t usually take photos of that sort of thing because we are all afraid they’ll fall into the wrong hands,” Murray once said in an interview with Ingrid Farreras of the NIH Office of History.
The “wrong hands” Murray was undoubtedly referring to belong to us—the taxpayers who have been bankrolling NIH’s sadistic and worthless “monkey fright” experiments, many unwittingly. However, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, we’re blowing the lid off the whole thing and shining a spotlight on the footage Murray doesn’t want any of us to see.
GIFs: Monkey Fright Night in a Government Lab!
This monkey, for example, didn’t want to be inflicted with permanent, traumatic brain damage, which occurred after Murray cut into his head, sawed off a portion of his skull, and injected toxins into his brain.
There’s no way this monkey wanted to be placed alone inside a small metal cage, possibly after Murray or another experimenter had suctioned out or burned part of his brain.
This monkey—shaking the bars of his cage—should never have been frightened with rubber snakes or spiders, wooden mechanical snakes, or fake jumping spiders.
And this monkey, scared and alone, certainly didn’t sign up to be deliberately terrified and then abused in other horrific experiments or killed.
Murphy was taken away from his mother at a young age so Elisabeth Murray could torture him. See his heartbreaking story:
Murray claims that these tests shed light on human neuropsychiatric disorders, but not a single treatment or cure for humans has come out of them in 30 years.
SINCE 1998, MURRAY HAS RECEIVED NEARLY $47 MILLION IN TAXPAYER MONEY—OUR MONEY—FOR THESE “PSYCHOLOGY” EXPERIMENTS.
So while Americans wait for cures for deadly diseases, NIH—the U.S.’ premier health agency—is sucking out parts of monkeys’ brains and then scaring them with “snakes” and “spiders.”
NIH must shut down this horrific laboratory, redirect the funds to superior non-animal research methods that benefit humans, and retire the surviving monkeys to sanctuaries. Click on the link below if you’re with us:


petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-17--PETA Releases Photos of Monkeys Suffering in Johns Hopkins Labs

USDA inspectors found numerous troubling animal welfare violations , including housing monkeys separately in barren cages and allowing them to suffer from untreated medical conditions .
Monkeys , normally gentle , social animals , were kept separated , alone in empty metal cages barely large enough for them to turn around in , with nothing to make their lives worth living .
Normally social monkeys are caged in isolation at JHU , a situation causing them undue stress and mind-destroying frustration , which sometimes results in hair loss , as seen in this monkey .
The gentle monkey pictured above @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a toy to play with as a distraction from the unrelenting loneliness , suffers from alopecia , a condition that results in hair loss .
The monkey may also be tearing his or her own hair out as a result of the stress of confinement and the absence of peers with whom to engage in mutual grooming , which is what monkeys do in exchange for food , sex , and friendship .
Another monkey , alone in a barren metal cage , also has hair loss along the length of his or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Hair loss is seen in many of the photographs of monkeys in laboratories at JHU .
Their stress levels skyrocket in laboratory settings , where extreme isolation and deprivation are interrupted only by unpredictable humans , who frequently inflict pain on them during experiments .
This is another gentle monkey at JHU whose hair has almost completely fallen out .
The only hair left is on the head and wrists .
Kept in these austere settings , monkeys may suffer from psychological trauma .
They often pace , pull out their own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ desperate attempt to experience any kind of stimulation in their utterly deprived lives .
Another monkey at JHU , alone in a barren cage , is suffering from hair loss .
Monkeys caged alone , as USDA inspectors have photographed in JHU labs , tend to exhibit “ stereotypic behavior , ” such as repetitive movements like pacing , circling , swinging , and rocking , to alleviate their mental anguish and to try to cope with their inadequate environment .
This monkey is overweight and has severe alopecia .
Inspectors noted that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problem—she was simply left to suffer with her baby in a barren cage .
The public deserves to know what takes place behind the locked doors of JHU ’ s laboratories , where experimenters conduct crude animal tests , often receiving taxpayer funds for them .
PETA is fighting to shine the bright light of public scrutiny on these experiments .
We have known for decades that monkeys need companionship , access to outdoor spaces , and much more than a laboratory can provide .
This is another shot of the monkey and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alopecia , which JHU apparently ignored .
There was no treatment plan for either monkey .
JHU ’ s repeated failure to comply with the AWA is shameful .
Below are just some of JHU ’ s violations of federal animal welfare regulations as noted by the USDA : • None • None June 10 , 2019 : A marmoset died after a laboratory worker closed the cage door on him or her , causing hemorrhaging and trauma to the neck .
• None • None February 15 , 2017 : A young @ @ @ @ @ @ @ portion of her enclosure .
Her head had become caught inside a ball used for enrichment , which had a hole chewed into it sufficient to allow her entire head to become entrapped .
Although the necropsy was not conclusive , the facility determined that the cause of death was likely prolonged exposure to the cold combined with the stress of not being able to free her head .
• None • None July 12 , 2016 : Two baboon cages had loops of water lines entering from the top , creating a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rabbit enclosures had water nipples that did not fully reach into the cages , making it difficult for the animals to access fresh water ; three primates were singly housed and had no visual contact with peers ; and there were 17 instances of expired medications .
• None • None March 31 , 2016 : Johns Hopkins received an Official Warning Letter for its failure to ensure the psychological well-being of primates .
Eight primates were noted to have significant hair loss at the time of inspection .
Some of them were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ • None January 28 , 2015 : A rabbit died of asphyxiation after being left in a cage that was sent through a high temperature disinfecting machine prior to regular cage washing .

PETA has obtained damning photos from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspections of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) laboratories revealing that monkeys are locked in cramped barren cages, apparently driven by stress and a soul-crushing lack of stimulation to tear out their own hair, and left suffering from untreated medical conditions.
The photos, taken by USDA inspectors, document violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which sets the minimum standards for the treatment of animals in laboratories. More importantly, each photo vividly shows that JHU warehouses monkeys and treats them like laboratory tools, rather than viewing them as intelligent, loving animals who are capable of feeling pain, anxiety, and depression and deserve to be free.
Update: December 22, 2021
Following reports this week that the National Institutes of Health has launched an investigation into the Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) at the University of Washington for apparently failing to keep monkeys free from disease, PETA asked Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to stop buying and using monkeys from the WaNPRC. In addition, we asked JHU to retract any published papers based on experiments using potentially infected monkeys.
JHU experimenters use pig-tailed macaques obtained from the WaNPRC. These monkeys may harbor viruses that make the results of experiments on them meaningless. Unintended infections also threaten public health and safety, waste millions of taxpayer dollars, and cause immense animal suffering.
Take action below to urge JHU to stop tormenting monkeys and other animals—including the sensitive barn owls used in Shreesh Mysore’s horrific brain experiments —in its laboratories.
Update: March 2, 2021
Earlier this month, in response to our public records request, PETA received documents from the Maryland Department of Agriculture stating that Johns Hopkins University (JHU) purchased 31 rhesus macaques in January 2018 from the notorious taxpayer-funded Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC). These animals went from one hellhole (WNPRC) to another (JHU), where U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors have documented repeated violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.
PETA’s six-month undercover investigation into the WNPRC revealed widespread suffering and neglect. Nearly 2,000 highly intelligent monkeys are kept at the WNPRC, and some have been driven mad by extreme, near-constant, long-term confinement—over two decades for some—deprived of the opportunity to satisfy their most basic needs. One worker said that some of the monkeys can’t be housed with others “because they’re a**holes” to one another in the highly stressful and substandard conditions, leading monkeys to sustain deep, painful lacerations; damage to fingers so severe that they required amputation; and other injuries from attacks. Other monkeys mutilated themselves or paced and circled endlessly, a well-known and dysfunctional method of trying to cope with mental anguish. Some of them pulled out their own hair until they were nearly bald. Many were found to have chronic diarrhea, lasting for months or even years. Cornelius, a monkey who has been at the WNPRC for a decade and was usually kept in isolation, was routinely found hunched over or with his face pressed against the cage bars. As one supervisor said, staff are “not supposed to say” that monkeys “look depressed” but admitted that they absolutely do.


petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-17--A COVID-19 Silver Lining: Unexpected Benefits for Animals

Guess what ?
There ’ s a silver lining to the wretched coronavirus .
PETA is sharing some rare good news about COVID-19 : its unexpected benefits for some animals .
Circuses including Royal Hanneford , UniverSoul , Jordan World , Carson & Barnes , and Shrine circuses have had to cancel performances with elephants , big cats , zebras , camels , and other animals .
They ’ re not being hauled across the country in trucks and trailers , tethered by tight chains or shoved into small cages for now .
For the next few weeks at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confusing , uncomfortable , and demeaning tricks under the threat of physical punishment .
As racetracks cancel events , including even the Kentucky Derby , fewer horses are being run to their deaths .
As SeaWorld and Discovery Cove shut their doors , dolphins used for public interactions and rays in touch tanks aren ’ t enduring the stress and discomfort of a never-ending barrage of grabbing human hands .
What about the laboratories working on a COVID-19 vaccine ?
The National Institutes of Health knew that there was no time to waste @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help humans 95 percent of the time .
The largest funder of experiments on animals in the country is not waiting for lengthy and likely misleading animal trials before testing a vaccine candidate in humans , something PETA has been urging for decades .
And because companies are allowing workers to telecommute , fewer dogs are being forced to sit in crates all day or “ hold it ” until their guardians return .
With restaurants , bars , and nightclubs closed , people are likely spending more high-quality time with their animal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the house for fresh air and an exploratory walk through the neighborhood instead of going to the ( also now closed ) gym .
Of course , PETA hopes this public health crisis ends quickly and the financial and other hardships for humans end , too .
But we also hope that among all the lessons that we take away from this experience , there ’ s one in compassion .
Animals don ’ t want or choose to be used for human ends and shouldn ’ t experience pain , death , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re finally on the other side of COVID-19 , perhaps we can hold on to the best things to have come from it .
Take Action to Keep Circuses That Use Animals Shut Down

Guess what? There’s a silver lining to the wretched coronavirus. PETA is sharing some rare good news about COVID-19: its unexpected benefits for some animals.
Circuses including Royal Hanneford, UniverSoul, Jordan World, Carson & Barnes, and Shrine circuses have had to cancel or postpone performances, meaning that elephants, big cats, zebras, camels, and other animals are not being hauled across the country in trucks and trailers. For the next few weeks at least, they won’t be performing confusing, uncomfortable, and demeaning tricks under the threat of physical punishment. As racetracks cancel events, including even the Kentucky Derby, fewer horses are being run to their deaths. As SeaWorld and Discovery Cove shut their doors, dolphins used for public interactions and rays in touch tanks aren’t enduring the stress and discomfort of a never-ending barrage of grabbing human hands. And called-off bullfights mean that bulls aren’t being stabbed to death by matadors.
But wait, there’s more.
What about the laboratories working on a COVID-19 vaccine? The National Institutes of Health knew that there was no time to waste killing animals in tests that fail to help humans 95 percent of the time. The largest funder of experiments on animals in the country is not waiting for lengthy and likely misleading animal trials before testing a vaccine candidate in humans, something PETA has been urging for decades.
And because companies are allowing workers to telecommute, fewer dogs are being forced to sit in crates all day or “hold it” until their guardians return. With restaurants, bars, and nightclubs closed, people are likely spending more high-quality time with their animal companions and getting their dogs out of the house for fresh air and an exploratory walk through the neighborhood instead of going to the (also now closed) gym.
As people are shopping online more, there’s a valuable opportunity to help animals. By shopping on Smile.Amazon.com and selecting “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals” as the benefitting charity, a portion of proceeds from your orders will go to PETA to support the groundbreaking work still being done for animals.
And there’s never been a better time to save lives and eat vegan, especially when you can try delicious new foods with vegan meals delivered straight to your door via subscription services, like PETA Business Friends Purple Carrot, Veestro, and MamaSezz.
Of course, PETA hopes this public health crisis ends quickly and the financial and other hardships for humans end, too. But we also hope that among all the lessons that we take away from this experience, there’s one in compassion. Animals don’t want or choose to be used for human ends and shouldn’t experience pain, death, or discomfort at human hands. When we’re finally on the other side of COVID-19, perhaps we can hold on to the best things to have come from it.


petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-17--PETA Covers Myths and Facts About Meat and the Coronavirus

What ’ s the link between meat and the coronavirus ?
As the outbreak of the novel coronavirus ( COVID-19 ) grips the world , more and more people are isolating , quarantining , and wondering just how we got here .
PETA has long warned about the health risks associated with eating meat .
After all , raising animals for food in filthy conditions is a breeding ground for diseases that can be transmitted to humans .
PETA has answers to common questions about the link between eating meat and the coronavirus : Can I get COVID-19 from eating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ To protect yourself , such as when visiting live animal markets , avoid direct contact with animals and surfaces in contact with animals .
Ensure good food safety practices at all times .
Handle raw meat , milk or animal organs with care to avoid contamination of uncooked foods and avoid consuming raw or undercooked animal products.
” For animals , the environment , and your own health , going vegan is your safest bet .
Yes , even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides .
Is it safe to eat meat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stay away from animal-derived foods at all times for many reasons !
They include the following : • The meat , egg , and dairy industries ’ damage to the planet • The risk of suffering from heart disease , diabetes , cancer , and other ailments • The significant risk of contracting foodborne pathogens such as coli and salmonella • The rampant use of antibiotics in animals reared for food around the world , which contributes to the emergence of superbugs and antibiotic resistance in humans Is the meat industry responsible for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ignore the link between meat and outbreaks of diseases like COVID-19 .
Humans ’ insatiable demand for meat , eggs , and dairy means that huge numbers of animals are reared in intensive confinement in giant , filthy warehouses .
Chickens , cows , pigs , and other animals are crammed together in small cages or feces-ridden sheds .
They ’ re transported in filthy trucks and slaughtered on killing floors soaked with blood , urine , and other bodily fluids .
Pathogens flourish in such conditions .
Crowded farms are a breeding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and viruses .
Where did the coronavirus come from ?
Public health experts believe COVID-19 originated at a “ wet market ” in China , where vendors sell both live and dead animals for human consumption .
COVID-19 is similar to the outbreaks of SARS and MERS : All three spread from animals to humans .
Have other diseases come from eating meat ?
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , “ Approximately 75 percent of recently emerging infectious diseases affecting people began as diseases in animals.
” Swine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people worldwide .
And bird flu ( or avian flu ) is a disease that can spread easily on a crowded chicken farm .
There are at least 144 different strains of bird flu .
The H5N1 variety kills the most birds and is deadly to humans , killing about 60 % of those who catch it .
What is the meat industry ’ s role in the emergence of superbugs ?
In addition to serving as breeding grounds for viruses , the crowded , filthy conditions on farms allow bacteria to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ today ’ s farms a regimen of antibiotics to try to minimize sickness or to promote unnatural growth .
Did you know that animals on farms consume more antibiotics every year than humans do ?
Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics as a result of overuse .
This contributes to the emergence of “ superbugs ” —new , aggressive pathogens .
Now , the drugs used to keep animals on farms alive are making humans sick .
Need Help Going Vegan ?
We ’ ve Got You Covered If you want to make the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to go vegan , PETA is here to help !
We can even set you up with a free one-on-one mentor who can answer all your questions ( via e-mail , of course , so you won ’ t have to stop social distancing ) .
What are you waiting for ?

What’s the link between meat and the coronavirus? As the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) grips the world, more and more people are isolating, quarantining, and wondering just how we got here. PETA has long warned about the health risks associated with eating meat. After all, raising animals for food in filthy conditions is a breeding ground for diseases that can be transmitted to humans.
PETA has answers to common questions about the link between eating meat and the coronavirus:
Can I get COVID-19 from eating meat?
The World Health Organization says, “To protect yourself, such as when visiting live animal markets, avoid direct contact with animals and surfaces in contact with animals. Ensure good food safety practices at all times. Handle raw meat, milk or animal organs with care to avoid contamination of uncooked foods and avoid consuming raw or undercooked animal products.”
For animals, the environment, and your own health, going vegan is your safest bet. Yes, even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
Is it safe to eat meat during the coronavirus outbreak?
You should stay away from animal-derived foods at all times for many reasons!
They include the following:
Bigotry begins when categories such as race, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or species are used to justify discrimination. Join the Movement
Is the meat industry responsible for the coronavirus?
We can’t ignore the link between meat and outbreaks of diseases like COVID-19. Humans’ insatiable demand for meat, eggs, and dairy means that huge numbers of animals are reared in intensive confinement in giant, filthy warehouses.
Chickens, cows, pigs, and other animals are crammed together in small cages or feces-ridden sheds. They’re transported in filthy trucks and slaughtered on killing floors soaked with blood, urine, and other bodily fluids.
Pathogens flourish in such conditions. Crowded farms are a breeding ground for new strains of dangerous bacteria and viruses.
Where did the coronavirus come from?
Public health experts believe COVID-19 originated at a “wet market” in China, where vendors sell both live and dead animals for human consumption. COVID-19 is similar to the outbreaks of SARS and MERS: All three spread from animals to humans.
Have other diseases come from eating meat?
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Approximately 75 percent of recently emerging infectious diseases affecting people began as diseases in animals.”
Swine flu—which is linked to pigs—has killed thousands of people worldwide. And bird flu (or avian flu) is a disease that can spread easily on a crowded chicken farm. There are at least 144 different strains of bird flu. The H5N1 variety kills the most birds and is deadly to humans, killing about 60% of those who catch it.
© Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals
What is the meat industry’s role in the emergence of superbugs?
In addition to serving as breeding grounds for viruses, the crowded, filthy conditions on farms allow bacteria to spread quickly. Farmers feed animals on today’s farms a regimen of antibiotics to try to minimize sickness or to promote unnatural growth. Did you know that animals on farms consume more antibiotics every year than humans do?
Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics as a result of overuse. This contributes to the emergence of “superbugs”—new, aggressive pathogens. Now, the drugs used to keep animals on farms alive are making humans sick.
Need Help Going Vegan? We’ve Got You Covered
If you want to make the conscientious, sustainable, and healthy choice to go vegan, PETA is here to help! We can even set you up with a free one-on-one mentor who can answer all your questions (via e-mail, of course, so you won’t have to stop social distancing). Try some vegan meats too—from PETA Business Friends Lily’s Vegan Pantry and Fake Meats. What are you waiting for?


petapeoplefortheethicaltreatmentofanimals--2020-03-17--Rescued! Watch As a Dog Trapped in a Well Is Rescued Just in Time

Scared , weak , and hungry , this dog—who had fallen into a deep well in western India and remained trapped for days—was likely terrified she ’ d never get out .
Many wells in the Indian district of Sangli—where the rescue took place—are uncovered , posing a risk to animals , who can easily fall into them .
Animal Rahat ( a PETA-supported , India-based animal protection organization ) has come to the rescue of cats , dogs , Indian spectacled cobras , a hyena , a porcupine , and a mother cow who was missing her calf—so when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s plight , a team sprang into action and climbed down into the well .
Although the dog was initially so frightened that she ran away , her rescuers were able to coax her into a carrier … … and lift her to safety .
At Animal Rahat , she was examined , spayed , vaccinated , and given lots of love before she was returned to her community .
From the deepest wells to the highest trees , Animal Rahat ’ s team is ready to go wherever animals need them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s rescue inspire you to keep an eye out for animals in need , too , and never let animal companions stray from home .
Help More Animals Like This Sweet Pup Animal Rahat is a lifesaving organization run by a dedicated staff that includes veterinarians , veterinary assistants , animal caretakers , and a community educator .
For this trapped dog and thousands of other animals in India , the group has provided a lifeline that helped them escape danger , exploitation , abuse , or neglect .
Will you support Animal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in India ?
Help Improve the Lives of Animals in India

Scared, weak, and hungry, this dog—who had fallen into a deep well in western India and remained trapped for days—was likely terrified she’d never get out.
Then Animal Rahat rescuers showed up.
Many wells in the Indian district of Sangli—where the rescue took place—are uncovered, posing a risk to animals, who can easily fall into them. Animal Rahat (a PETA-supported, India-based animal protection organization) has come to the rescue of cats, dogs, Indian spectacled cobras, a hyena, a porcupine, and a mother cow who was missing her calf—so when residents alerted the group to this dog’s plight, a team sprang into action and climbed down into the well.
Although the dog was initially so frightened that she ran away, her rescuers were able to coax her into a carrier …
… and lift her to safety.
At Animal Rahat, she was examined, spayed, vaccinated, and given lots of love before she was returned to her community.
From the deepest wells to the highest trees, Animal Rahat’s team is ready to go wherever animals need them. Please, let this dog’s rescue inspire you to keep an eye out for animals in need, too, and never let animal companions stray from home.
Help More Animals Like This Sweet Pup
Animal Rahat is a lifesaving organization run by a dedicated staff that includes veterinarians, veterinary assistants, animal caretakers, and a community educator. For this trapped dog and thousands of other animals in India, the group has provided a lifeline that helped them escape danger, exploitation, abuse, or neglect.
Will you support Animal Rahat and its vital work for animals in India?