Experiments on Cats at UW-madison
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Cut Funding for Cruel Experiments on Cats at UW-Madison!
I was shocked to learn that the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (Also known as National Institute of Health (NIH) 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.
Mark Fritts
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