Sick Cats Denied Vet Care at Blood Bank; PETA to Urge Gov. Holcomb to Intervene

For Immediate Release:
April 23, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

On Thursday, a pack of PETA supporters will rally outside the Indiana Statehouse to urge Gov. Eric Holcomb to call for animal neglect charges against those responsible for denying sick animals veterinary care at The Veterinarians’ Blood Bank (TVBB) in Jackson County. It has been more than five months since authorities received evidence from PETA’s undercover investigation into TVBB, which confines 900 dogs and cats to barren kennels and crowded pens and takes their blood every three weeks—even as they suffered with infections and cancer—but Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffrey Chalfant has refused to file criminal charges and staffers at his office are hanging up on callers who have expressed concerns about the dogs and cats confined there.

When: Thursday, April 25, 12 noon

Where: Indiana Governor’s Office, 200 W. Washington St. (at the intersection of N. Capitol Avenue and W. Court Street), Indianapolis

PETA’s investigation revealed, among other horrors, that TVBB failed to provide veterinary care to cats with painful conditions, including Fox, a 13-year-old cat with bloody diarrhea who a manager admitted had “been going down a lot,” and a tiny cat named Vivi who cried out in pain from an excruciating mouth infection that management had known about but failed to address for over nine months. PETA’s investigator was eventually allowed to adopt both cats and seek treatment for them. Fox was euthanized due to gastrointestinal cancer, and Vivi’s mouth was in such poor condition that all her teeth required emergency removal.

“Sick, elderly animals were denied adequate care or any semblance of comfort at this miserable blood prison, which condemns cats and dogs to a life sentence in barren pens and exploits them until they die,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is urging Gov. Holcomb to make Prosecuting Attorney Chalfant do his job and hold this heinous operation accountable.”

PETA is also calling on Holcomb to push the Office of the Indiana Attorney General and the Indiana State Board of Animal Health to take meaningful enforcement action after an inspection of TVBB confirmed many of PETA’s findings, with state veterinarian Dr. Jodi Lovejoy photographing a whiteboard that listed the names of more than a dozen cats in need of dental care—nine of whom had been on the list for nearly five months.

BluePearl Pet Hospital, VCA Animal Hospitals, and PetVet Care Centers—nationwide networks of veterinary hospitals—all dropped TVBB as a supplier following PETA’s investigation. More than 50,000 PETA supporters urged BluePearl, VCA, and their parent company, Mars Inc., to implement a policy against obtaining blood from captive animals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.