Hold This University Accountable for Dissecting Cats While They are Still Alive
- by: Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research (CAARE)
- recipient: Members of Congress
SUNY College of Optometry is experimenting on cats and kittens in gruesome and deadly experiments, but refuses to disclose details about this taxpayer-funded research.
At the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry, scientists have been maiming and killing cats for years, claiming to study the brain's role in vision.
Young cats, 4 to 12 months old, are surgically dissected and kept alive during experiments that remove their skulls to insert electrodes to probe their brains. They are basically being dissected while still alive! These grisly procedures go on for hours, possibly even days.
After 36 years of taxpayer funded research, these deplorable experiments have not resulted in any treatments for vision disorders!
We don't know the extent to which these innocent cats suffer because SUNY has repeatedly refused to comply with Freedom of Information Requests.
As a recipient of a grant from the National Eye Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, SUNY's refusal to supply records relating to animal care and treatment is outrageous and a violation of law.
Please sign this petition asking Congress to enforce SUNY's compliance to the Freedom of Information Law. The public has a right to know all the details about what happens to these defenseless kittens and cats in taxpayer funded experiments.
I am very concerned that the State University of New York (SUNY) has failed to comply with Freedom of Information Law in releasing records regarding highly invasive experiments on kittens and cats at the SUNY College of Optometry.
These experiments have been funded since 1983 through a grant by the National Eye Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, and have not resulted in any treatments for vision disorders since they began decades ago.
Not only has this research proven to be expensive and medically fruitless, it is gruesome and highly injurious. Young cats, 4 to 12 months old, are surgically dissected and kept alive during experiments that remove their skulls to insert electrodes to probe their brains. These grisly procedures go on for hours, or perhaps even days.
This taxpayer-funded research is subject to reasonable scrutiny under Freedom of Information laws to enable citizens, advocacy groups and Congress to assure compliance with animal welfare laws. SUNY has thus far failed to release appropriate records on animal care and treatment to provide this assurance.
As you are likely aware, Congressional oversight recently led to the end of decades-long experiments at USDA that needlessly killed hundreds of cats and kittens in bogus experiments, alleging food safety.
I appreciate your intervention, as my representative in Congress, to assure SUNY's prompt compliance with the laws mandating the release of information about the experiments in question.
Thank you for joining us in this effort to speak out, and for helping us end these terrible experiments on innocent cats.
By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.
Having problems signing this? Let us know.