VR Aliens to Give Close Encounter With Animal Testing

For Immediate Release:
October 24, 2022

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

On Wednesday, “aliens” will crash-land on PETA’s rooftop, transport people to a spaceship, and subject them to terrifying experiments that resemble what animals face in laboratories. The unique virtual reality experience will kick off PETA’s new Abduction campaign tour tour, which will visit college campuses across the country—all of which house facilities where animals are imprisoned and tormented in laboratories—and put visitors in the place of monkeys, rats, mice, and other animals who are mutilated and killed in cruel, useless tests.

When:    Wednesday, October 26, 4–9 p.m.

Where:    On the roof of PETA’s Bob Barker Building, 2154 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles

“The launch of Abduction marks the first time people are getting a first-person glimpse into the horrors experienced by frightened and confused animals in barren laboratories,” says PETA Senior Director Rachelle Owen. “PETA is rallying people across the country to demand a switch to superior, non-animal research that leaves our fellow Earthlings in peace.”

Studies show that 90% of all basic research—most of which involves animals—fails to lead to treatments for humans, which is why PETA is pushing universities to pivot to sophisticated, human-relevant research methods.

Abduction—which was filmed in VR180 with assistance from the virtual reality creation studio Prosper XR—will stop at college campuses including Harvard University, Yale University, and Virginia Tech.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on the group’s newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.