Utah Labs

For more than eight months in 2009, a PETA investigator worked undercover inside the laboratories of the University of Utah (UU) in Salt Lake City and documented miserable conditions for and terrible suffering of the dogs, cats, monkeys, rats, mice, rabbits, frogs, cows, pigs, and sheep confined there.

PETA investigator learned that homeless dogs and cats—obtained for a few dollars from area animal shelters through an archaic Utah state “pound-seizure” law, which requires government-funded shelters to turn animals over to laboratories that request them—were used in invasive, painful experiments and killed.

A pregnant cat pulled out of the Davis County animal shelter gave birth to eight kittens the very day she arrived at UU’s laboratories. When the kittens were just 7 days old, a chemical was injected into their brains to cause fluid to build up. After the surgery, the distressed cat—who showed great affection for her kittens before they were taken for the experiment—stopped nursing her babies, and they all died.

In other experiments, a cat named Robert, who was also bought from the Davis County animal shelter, had a hole drilled into his skull and electrodes attached to his brain, and dogs bought from a local shelter had their necks cut open so that medical devices could be implanted inside.

Mice and rats were given enormous tumors and painful, deadly illnesses. Rats had holes drilled into their skulls for invasive brain experiments. Monkeys were kept constantly thirsty so that they would cooperate in experiments for a sip of water. Sick and injured animals were denied veterinary care and left to languish and die.

Incompetence, indifference, and neglect forced many of the animals to endure severe trauma, prolonged suffering, and agonizingly slow and grisly deaths. These are only a few of the widespread instances of cruelty that PETA’s investigator observed at UU.

Filed Under: Animal & Plant Life