‘Mad Scientist’ to Act Out University of Missouri’s Cruel Dog Experiments

During World Week for Animals in Laboratories, PETA Will Call On Mizzou to End Canine Muscular Dystrophy Tests

For Immediate Release:
April 24, 2019

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

On Thursday, smack-dab in the middle of World Week for Animals in Laboratories, a “mad scientist” wearing a white lab coat will lead PETA supporters in a spirited protest against the University of Missouri’s (Mizzou) cruel and wasteful muscular dystrophy experiments on dogs. Protesters will stand in front of a giant banner proclaiming, “Mizzou: Close the Dog Torture Lab Now,” and pantomime experimenting on a plush golden retriever toy.

When:    Thursday, April 25, 12 noon

Where:    University of Missouri’s Francis Quadrangle, at the intersection of S. Ninth Street and University Avenue, Columbia

“The University of Missouri purposely breeds dogs to have canine muscular dystrophy and uses them in horrifying experiments that have long failed to produce a cure or treatment that reverses symptoms of muscular dystrophy in humans,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the university to shut down this laboratory and put all surviving dogs up for adoption into loving homes immediately.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. The group has released video footage from a similar laboratory at Texas A&M University, showing that dogs afflicted with muscular dystrophy struggle to walk, eat, and even breathe. Those who don’t exhibit symptoms but carry the gene for the disease are used for breeding. They frantically paced the slatted floors and bit the bars of the small cages they were confined to.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.