Iggy Pop Challenges ‘Unspeakably Cruel’ Bird Experiments at Yale University

Music Legend Joins PETA Campaign Against Chronic-Stress Studies on Birds

For Immediate Release:
November 8, 2017

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Rock icon Iggy Pop has sent a letter on PETA’s behalf to Yale University President Peter Salovey calling on him to end experimenter Christine Lattin’s chronic-stress experiments on wild songbirds, which Pop—the guardian of a bird named Biggy Pop—calls “wasteful, useless, and unspeakably cruel.”

In the letter, Pop shares how PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—has revealed how, since 2008, Lattin has trapped wild songbirds, chemically damaged their adrenal glands, and inflicted wounds on their legs, among other painful or frightening procedures.

“To top it off, after weeks and sometimes months of this abuse, the birds are then snuffed out, killed, as if their lives meant nothing,” writes Pop. “Birds have great intelligence and social needs that are as important to them as our own are to us. … Please let me hear that Yale University will immediately act to stop these unethical experiments.”

Pop previously starred as a superhero for animals in a PETA video scored by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

Iggy Pop’s letter to Yale University President Peter Salovey follows.

November 8, 2017

President Peter Salovey
Yale University
PO Box 208229
New Haven, CT 06520-8229

Dear President Salovey,

As a person who admires birds, I was sickened to learn from PETA that a Yale experimenter, Christine Lattin, is trapping wild birds to experiment on in absolutely hideous ways.

This experimenter takes sparrows and other birds from nature and injects them with chemicals to destroy their adrenal glands. She has then intentionally caused them stress through a variety of torments, including yelling at them, playing loud music, rattling their cages every two minutes, rolling the cages back and forth so swiftly that they can’t perch, and restraining them in cloth bags for 30 minutes at a time, all petrifying experiences for them.

To top it off, after weeks and sometimes months of this abuse, the birds are then snuffed out, killed, as if their lives meant nothing.

These experiments are wasteful, useless, and unspeakably cruel. Birds have great intelligence and social needs that are as important to them as our own are to us.

Thank you for your consideration of this important matter. Please let me hear that Yale University will immediately act to stop these unethical experiments. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Iggy Pop