Many people in the dog and horse animal world that I interact with love their animals and want the best for them medically. At the same time, they think that they want Biomedical Research to stop because it is relentlessly cruel and sadistic. They think that the Biomedical Community is populated by thousands of Mengele-type “vivisectionists”. This of course is the result of decades of misinformation and propaganda by PETA. Nothing could be further from the truth!

While it is true that research animals are subjected to some unpleasantness and do for the most part get euthanized at the end of the research or toxicology study, in the spectrum of the lives of purpose-bred animals, they are very well cared for. They have the best, most humane surroundings, their every need is attended to, they are surrounded by veterinarians and veterinary staff, and they receive pain relief and medical treatment as needed, if needed. Their lives are indeed better than any food animal, any fur animal, and most racing grey hounds, race horses, sled dogs and competition horses. All aspects of Laboratory Animal Care is mandated by the Federal Government and overseen by the Federal Government, in particular, the USDA, APHIS, Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare and the FDA to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars of Tax Payer Dollars annually. In fact, the Federal Government’s overweaning interest in the care of laboratory animals far exceeds the Federal Government’s interest in the health and well being of American low-income children and in particular, in war veterans and wounded warriors. Yes, the Federal Government spends more money and provides more regulatory over site to laboratory mice than it does our Warriors wounded in Afganistan or Iraq! So there is nothing wrong with how laboratory animals are cared for and how they are used to provide us with new science and new treatments for human and veterinary diseases.