Stop Cruel, Wasteful Experiments on Dogs!
- by: PETA
- recipient: Texas A&M University and Alfort National Veterinary School
This 6-year-old golden retriever, known as Jelly, suffered damaged ligaments and weakened muscles after developing muscular dystrophy for experiments to search for pharmacologic therapies for the disease – an effort that has failed so far.
Video footage obtained by PETA reveals that behind closed doors at Texas A&M University, dogs like Jelly are deliberately bred to develop crippling muscle diseases. They struggle to walk and swallow. Experimenters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Missouri also engage in this shameful practice in which colonies of dogs are bred to suffer from progressive muscular degeneration. Video footage given to PETA France by the group Animal Testing shows that the same misery is being endured by dogs at France's Alfort National Veterinary School.
You can help stop this.
After decades of testing on generations of debilitated and suffering dogs, there is still no cure or treatment to reverse the course of this terrible disease in humans. Analysis of muscular dystrophy studies using dogs has shown that there are serious pitfalls when trying to apply those results to humans. In fact, there are even studies that have produced the opposite results in humans. There are better ways to help patients with muscular dystrophy.
Please urge Texas A&M University and Alfort National Veterinary School to close their dog laboratories, stop breeding MD dogs, release all dogs for adoption into good homes, and redirect their resources into humane research methods.
Video footage obtained by PETA reveals that behind closed doors at Texas A&M University, dogs like Jelly are deliberately bred to develop crippling muscle diseases. They struggle to walk and swallow. Experimenters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Missouri also engage in this shameful practice in which colonies of dogs are bred to suffer from progressive muscular degeneration. Video footage given to PETA France by the group Animal Testing shows that the same misery is being endured by dogs at France's Alfort National Veterinary School.
You can help stop this.
After decades of testing on generations of debilitated and suffering dogs, there is still no cure or treatment to reverse the course of this terrible disease in humans. Analysis of muscular dystrophy studies using dogs has shown that there are serious pitfalls when trying to apply those results to humans. In fact, there are even studies that have produced the opposite results in humans. There are better ways to help patients with muscular dystrophy.
Please urge Texas A&M University and Alfort National Veterinary School to close their dog laboratories, stop breeding MD dogs, release all dogs for adoption into good homes, and redirect their resources into humane research methods.
Subject: Stop Funding Cruel, Wasteful Experiments on Dogs
Dear [Decisionmaker],
I just watched disturbing video footage of dogs who are being used in muscular dystrophy (MD) experiments suffering behind closed doors at your university.
It was distressing to see these animals, all part of Dr. Joseph Kornegay's golden retriever MD colony, struggling to walk and even eat. Drool dripped from the mouths of dogs whose jaw muscles had weakened. Other dogs were seen struggling to consume the thin gruel that they had to subsist on because of their atrophied esophageal muscles and enlarged tongues.
These animals waste away on uncomfortable slatted floors without so much as a blanket. Non-affected dogs used for breeding frantically pace and bite at the cage bars.
I understand that the MD dogs who survive long enough will develop heart problems as the disease finally attacks the cardiac muscle.
I applaud Texas A&M's goal of helping to find a cure for MD in humans. But funding studies in dogs is a misguided effort that wastes precious time and money. Despite decades of testing, these studies have failed to produce a cure or even an effective intervention for MD in humans.
There are far better ways to help MD patients.
I strongly urge Texas A&M to stop MD experiments on dogs, stop breeding dogs, release them for adoption into good homes, and in the future, support only promising, modern, non-animal therapies, such as transplantation of healthy muscle cells into patients with MD.
[Your comments here]
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Sign PetitionSign PetitionDear [Decisionmaker],
I just watched disturbing video footage of dogs who are being used in muscular dystrophy (MD) experiments suffering behind closed doors at your university.
It was distressing to see these animals, all part of Dr. Joseph Kornegay's golden retriever MD colony, struggling to walk and even eat. Drool dripped from the mouths of dogs whose jaw muscles had weakened. Other dogs were seen struggling to consume the thin gruel that they had to subsist on because of their atrophied esophageal muscles and enlarged tongues.
These animals waste away on uncomfortable slatted floors without so much as a blanket. Non-affected dogs used for breeding frantically pace and bite at the cage bars.
I understand that the MD dogs who survive long enough will develop heart problems as the disease finally attacks the cardiac muscle.
I applaud Texas A&M's goal of helping to find a cure for MD in humans. But funding studies in dogs is a misguided effort that wastes precious time and money. Despite decades of testing, these studies have failed to produce a cure or even an effective intervention for MD in humans.
There are far better ways to help MD patients.
I strongly urge Texas A&M to stop MD experiments on dogs, stop breeding dogs, release them for adoption into good homes, and in the future, support only promising, modern, non-animal therapies, such as transplantation of healthy muscle cells into patients with MD.
[Your comments here]
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
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