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Recently, more than 36,000 messages from PETA supporters and the veterinarian group Our Honor successfully convinced Washington State University to cancel its planned horse-killing laboratory, saving eight healthy and adoptable horses from certain death. But the fate of the horses is still in limbo.
PETA is now urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which has custody of the horses, to immediately release the horses to a sanctuary, instead of sending them to another laboratory for experimentation and death. Please lend your powerful voice once more!
How We Got Here
PETA joined with veterinarians, veterinary students, and alumni in urging the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine to cancel its plans to kill eight healthy horses and 60 goats in an antiquated Junior Surgery laboratory, where veterinary students cut into the animals to practice complicated abdominal surgeries.
Compassionate veterinarian group Our Honor, which took on the issue after veterinary students raised concerns, says sanctuaries and alternative placements are ready to accept all healthy, adoptable animals.
The university's animal use policy states that the Junior Surgery laboratory may use only animals destined for slaughter. But these eight horses were moved from a USDA experimentation program, raising questions about whether the school's animal care committee—the last line of defense for animals in laboratories—was given proper information.
Numerous veterinary schools have replaced terminal laboratories with clinical-based surgical training programs, where students perform necessary and beneficial procedures for animals under supervision. These programs often partner with rural communities lacking access to veterinary services. PETA urges the university to adopt these and other widely available humane simulation methods.
What You Can Do
Please take action below to urge the USDA, which reportedly has custody of the horses, to immediately release them to a sanctuary where they can live out their lives in peace.
Then, please send polite comments to Washington State University (WSU) officials, urging them to continue modernizing their curriculum by ending a similar laboratory in which goats are harmed in veterinary training surgeries and killed. You can do so by copying and pasting this block of e-mail addresses in the “To” field of your e-mail:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Read our letter to WSU. Please feel free to use the following talking points (but remember that using your own words is always more effective):
- Washington State University has stated that it is reviewing its curriculum, and I hope the university will permanently move away from using goats and other healthy animals for harmful and terminal training labs.
- Many veterinary schools successfully train students through humane clinical programs and modern simulation methods rather than killing healthy animals.
After you take action, you’ll see an easy way to share this information. Please ask five friends or relatives to support this campaign!