Ask NIH/Federal Government to Stop Funding Cruel UW Experiment on Cats!
- by: Carolyn Franzel excerting the folllowing from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of animals)
- recipient: National Institutes of Health/Federal Government
For decades, experimenters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) have been conducting cruel and useless taxpayer-funded "sound localization" studies in which cats have steel coils implanted in their eyes, holes drilled into their skulls, and electrodes implanted in their brains. Sometimes, cats used in this experiment have had their ears cut off or are intentionally deafened by having a toxic chemical applied to their inner ear. The cats are then deprived of food for several days in order to coerce them to look in the direction of sounds during experimental sessions in which their heads are immobilized by a bolt screwed into their skulls.
Internal UW documents and photographs obtained by PETA in response to a successful lawsuit detail the miserable life and death of one of the cats, a gentle tabby named Double Trouble, who was abused and killed in this barbaric experiment. In one instance, Double Trouble woke up while experimenters were cutting into her head. Following a series of invasive surgeries, she developed infections, became lethargic and depressed, started to twitch, and suffered paralysis in half her face. After UW deemed the experiment a failure, the experimenters killed and decapitated Double Trouble so that they could examine her brain. A former UW veterinarian who oversaw the treatment of Double Trouble and other cats used in this laboratory recently issued a letter confirming this abuse, stating that many of the cats "suffered unnecessarily."
Experimenters have justified the use of 30 cats like Double Trouble per year in this cruel project not by saying that it would enhance human health but by stating that they needed to "keep up a productive publication record that ensures our constant funding."
Shockingly, the federal government continues to support this irrelevant and deadly project and has provided UW with more than $3 million in grant money to abuse animals—even though researchers at other institutions around the world are already using modern methods with human volunteers to investigate how the brain locates and processes sound.
You can help our efforts by contacting the National Institutes of Health and urging the agency to cut funding for this crude and deadly project.
I was dismayed to learn that the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders has given more than $3 million for a series of cruel experiments on cats at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). In the studies, cats have steel coils implanted in their eyes, holes drilled into their skulls, and electrodes implanted in their brains. Sometimes, cats used in these UW experiments have had their ears cut off or are intentionally deafened by having a toxic chemical applied to their inner ear. The cats are then deprived of food for several days in order to coerce them to look in the direction of sounds during experimental sessions in which their heads are immobilized by a bolt screwed into their skulls.
Internal UW documents and photographs obtained by PETA show that one cat subjected to this experiment, an orange tabby cat named Double Trouble, woke up while experimenters were cutting into her head. Following a series of invasive surgeries, she developed infections, became lethargic and depressed, started to twitch, and suffered paralysis in half her face. After UW deemed the experiment a failure, the experimenters killed and decapitated Double Trouble so that they could examine her brain.
Equally shocking is that UW experimenters justified the use of the 30 cats for this crude experiment in their protocol not by saying that it would enhance human health but by stating that it was necessary for them to "keep up a productive publication record that ensures our constant funding." I find it troubling that millions of tax dollars are being spent to abuse and kill animals and further the personal careers of a few animal experimenters, rather than being invested in research that would benefit the American people.
Today, many laboratories are conducting modern and relevant sound localization studies using human volunteers. I urge your agency to end its financial support of this cruel and sloppy experiment at UW and divert funding toward humane and applicable human-based research.
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