Research beagle at ITR Laboratories Canada in Montreal, Quebec
Dear John,
Today is World Day for Laboratory Animals (WDLA). WDLA is observed every year on April 24th and is an international day of commemoration for the suffering of animals in laboratories. WDLA also urges for the replacement of live animal experimentation with advanced scientific non-animal research techniques.
LCA has been exposing the horrific abuse animals suffer in the name of research for over 35 years. What have we learned from all the suffering of animals in laboratories? That animal experimentation is cruel, unethical, wasteful and unreliable. Animal suffering in laboratories must stop. Click here to learn more and join the fight.
Below, in honor of WDLA, one of LCA's investigators speaks first hand of the animal suffering she witnessed while undercover at ITR Laboratories Canada in Montreal, Quebec.
"I remember the first day at ITR, walking through the facility and hearing the dogs crying out; hundreds of them, wanting nothing more than to be loved, to feel the warmth of a human, to know life beyond the concrete walls and endless suffering.
I peered through the tiny window of each door as I walked the sterile-white hallways leading to rooms that held dogs, monkeys, rabbits, mini-pigs, mice and rats. Rows and rows of steel cages, cold and lit by fluorescent lights, not a window in any of the rooms other than the door. They watched the window incessantly, awaiting in fear of the people in white suits that would perform tests on them that even I was not prepared for.
The dogs, like all the other animals were purpose-bred, and would never experience the feeling of grass beneath their feet, warm sunshine on their faces, the love of someone who wanted nothing more from them than companionship.
For months I worked undercover, participating in studies that caused suffering, pain, and even death. I remember quite vividly the day I had to walk the dogs from one of the studies to their death. These dogs were all less than a year old. One by one I brought them down the hall in carriers. The majority of their short lives had been spent tethered to a cage by an IV line, being fed toxins. After they were given a sedative, they each had about a minute to feel freedom and run around the exam room, wagging their tails in anticipation of something better. But it wasn’t meant to be.
The day I left ITR for the last time I sat crippled in the parking lot, unable to drive away. The incredible guilt I felt knowing that the suffering would continue long after I was gone was unbearable. Months of what I had experienced had come to an end, but their suffering was just beginning.
In closing, if I could ask you to honor the lives of these animals and shop cruelty-free. Pressure cosmetic companies to end the suffering and ask your government officials to protect animals in research and to urge the use of non-animal research alternatives."
