Every day we hear voices from around the world protesting the abuse and/or death of innocent dogs and cats.
Why is that?
Some studies indicate we tolerate the cruelty of animal testing because we think it keeps us safe from harmful products and improves our life span through medical testing.
So each year in the US over 72,000 dogs, mostly beagles, and 24,000 cats live their lives in sterile laboratories. Those animals used to come from shelters and Class B dealers who got them who knows where? Now the animals are usually bred by Class A dealers to be sold to the labs. The dealers offer “devocalization services,” meaning they surgically alter the dog so it can no longer bark.
And what are these animals used for?
According to the National Anti-Vivisection Society, up to 75% of dogs used in research are used in pharmaceutical testing. Yes, the effects of a drug on a dog doesn’t mean it’s going to have the same effect on a human, but drugs are required to be tested in both a rodent and non-rodent species, and well, dogs are so darned compliant! Other areas where dogs are used in research are physiology, surgery, dental health, to study hereditary diseases in humans, and to study dog nutrition, dog health, and dog behavior.
Cats are used to study spinal cord injuries, hearing and vision disorders, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hematological disorders, immunological studies, HIV and human leukemia.
Before you non-Americans get all holier-than-though, here are some sobering statistics for the rest of you:
In Australia in 2013, over 1500 cats and nearly 6,000 dogs were used in experiments.
Canada in 2013 used nearly 7,000 cats and nearly 15,000 dogs in research experiments.
Nearly 18,000 dogs and nearly 4,000 cats were used for experimentation in the European Union in 2011.
(links to stats found at HSI.org)
What about the rest of you? Oh, there’s almost certainly animal experimentation going on where you live as well, but your country either doesn’t keep statistics or refuses to share them.
The worst part is you could reduce the number of animals used by buying products identified as cruelty-free. Simply look for the Leaping Bunny icon on the package.
be clear, if people in China kill dogs to eat them, that’s cruelty. If animal control humanely euthanizes a homeless animal, that’s cruelty,
But if a dog or cat lives a short life of misery so you can take yet another medication or use a different kind of shampoo, that’s OK.
WTF?????
Dogpaddling Through Life 
It took me a while to figure out why my home town of Ithaca had so many pet beagles. They were lab animals from Cornell University.
What’s even more disturbing is to realize that we’re allowing companies to create toxic combinations that need testing before marketing. No one needs to test my bathroom cleaner–vinegar is even drinkable.
I know, right? Where do we get this idea we need all this man-made crap to have a clean house? We don’t even think about all the damage that way of thinking does to our planet and its’ living things.
Thank you for sharing these sobering and sad statistics.
It ain’t pretty, but there it is.
Thank you for this, Jen.
What’s even more discouraging is trying to convince people [especially women] about cruelty free cosmetics and hearing the phrase: “How could they possibly be harming animals by testing facial creams!” My answer usually is: “well, okay then, watch this:”. That’s when ‘sensitivity’ comes in and they say: “I’m too sensitive to watch this”. I suppose that makes me thick skinned and heartless… To this day, I find it hard to believe even when I watch these videos. They are painful to watch and leave deep scars every time BUT the cruelty to those voiceless [at least to us] beings and their pain is immeasurable, so whoever feels too vulnerable to watch, remember that first. Sorry about my little emotional outburst, but like you say …’WTF’!
A kiss to Buggie [get well soon!] and Rumpy!
Thanks. JB has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and recently had a follow-up visit to the vet. So far he’s responding well to medication!
One of my first posts on WP was about the Beagle Freedom Project (http://www.beaglefreedomproject.org/ And I can’t remember if you had already written about this subject….). And you are correct, so many people don’t know how often this happens. 😦
Out of sight, out of mind. Most people don’t think past the product coming from WalMart. Just like they don’t think that deal of a sweet piece of clothing they bought was manufactured in a sweatshop in Asia that probably creates a busload of pollution.
This is a terrible problem. We have to fight with all possible ways to make a change. We can demand and prefer products not using test animals. And we have to tell everybody of these animals so that it is known everywhere.
I agree. But we can’t force self-centered buffoons to listen, can we?
In the former West Germany, during the 1960 and 70s, scientists wanting to study the impacts of certain types of vehicle wrecks on the human body convinced prison systems to let them experiment on inmates. The prisoners were volunteers and would get X amount of time shaved off their sentences if they participated in the program. I remember seeing film footage of these staged wrecks during driver’s education in high school. But I didn’t find out until years later the people in those vehicles were German criminals. A few years ago Spain wanted to start using human cadavers in place of crash test dummies.
I personally think we should adopt the German model to medical testing. Instead of corralling helpless animals, the pharmaceutical industry should experiment on prisoners. Non-violent offenders might get some time taken off their sentences, while more violent felons may get an extra hour of exercise or another shower in exchange for their participation.
I disagree. It makes us no more humane than in what we’re doing now. I think we should quit testing shit on any living thing and use the technology available to us to test without harming anyone.
Reblogged this on ravenhawks' magazine and commented:
Thank you for once again bringing attention to this unconscionable situation.
Thanks for sharing!
I’ve been a supporter of the Beagle Freedom Project for over three years now, (some of my first blog posts were on this subject) and I have been shopping cruelty free for about the same amount of time. It is NOT OK, it is horrible that people think this is OK for any reason. Actually I just saw a post from BFP on Facebook today that had me wondering how anyone with a heart could work in those labs and sleep at night.
Yeah, well go tell one of those goofy make-up bloggers that what she or he is promoting is harmful for animals. Watch a room full of self-centered idiots have a conniption fit.
No we’re not silent. I’ve been a member of the Antivivisection League since the early 70s. I lost a dog to vivisection. She was an Irish Setter named Shannon. She was lured away from our yard with treats, and sold to a lab. I was about 12 years-old at the time.
As a computer engineer, I’m fully aware that computer modeling algorithms exist that eliminate the need for any animal testing, but even before we had that technology, many researchers believed that testing on animals was unnecessary and inhumane.
And yet here we are still doing the same thing over and over again because “that’s how we’ve always done it.”
I threw all things without cruelty-free seal in the trash bag some years ago. no matter what price this stuff was once, life has no price. I feel better now… a little bit, there are still the meds, developed on the back of animals :o(
I’m sure that there are also many dogs and cats that used for experiments for testing of cosmetics and for developing new medicines in Japan……I feel very sorry for those animals…not only dogs and cats but also little mice, rabbits and guinea pigs…..It reminds me the story of “Flowers for Algernon”…….poor Algernon…..but I think it’s just the tip of an iceberg…isn’t it?
I completely agree. There’s so many animal lovers out there but strangely you never hear about this issue, which I feel is a serious one. It seems people will support animal rights as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them. I posted a list on Twitter a couple days ago of all the companies which still test on animals, which is a lot. If everyone made a strong effort to buy only from their competitors who don’t test on animals then these companies would have no choice other than to stop this, that or go out of business.
Totally agree….good blog…sometimes we fail to look at ourselves…..making choices about “made in China” or “Cruelty Free” have to be weighed against need….it just takes a bit of training!