A nine-month undercover investigation found that hundreds of dogs, cats, and rabbits were subjected to vicious and abusive handling, neglect, and miserable living conditions at Professional Laboratory and Research Services, Inc. (PLRS)—a Corapeake, North Carolina–based contract laboratory that tests animal-companion products such as flea and tick sprays for Bayer, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis, Schering-Plough (now Merck), Sergeant’s, Wellmark (many of which who have already have been exposed to profit from vicious animal testing and abuse at Huntingdon Life Sciences) and Merial, the makers of Frontline flea and tick products—are among the corporations that have paid PLRS to force-feed experimental compounds to dogs and cats, expose rabbits to insect infestations, and smear harsh chemicals onto the animals’ skin.
The investigation revealed that dogs, cats, and rabbits used by PLRS suffered from untreated illnesses, injuries, and burns and that many animals were covered in raw. bloody, oozing sores because they couldn’t escape the urine, bleach, and water that pooled in the facility’s cages. Animals were often forced to sit in their own waste, and many were sprayed with bleach and other harsh chemicals when the cages that they were being kept in were cleaned while the animals were still in them. A PLRS supervisor said that the untreated sores were “just part of life” at the facility.
PETA’s investigator also documented that PLRS employees kicked, threw, grabbed, dropped, and dragged dogs; roughly grabbed and lifted rabbits by their ears; violently threw and slammed cats into cages; and viciously cursed profanities at animals. Video evidence shows that terrified cats were pulled from cages by the scruff of the neck while workers screamed in their faces and that a cat was viciously slammed into the metal door of a cage. One worker grabbed a cat and pushed him against a chain-link fence. When the cat fearfully clutched at the fencing with his claws, the worker jerked him off the fencing, saying she “hoped that the cat’s nails had been ripped out.”
PLRS didn’t bother to keep a veterinarian on staff. Instead, it chose to bring its primary veterinarian in for only one hour most weeks. Animals that endured bloody feces, worm infestations, oozing sores, abscessed teeth, hematomas, and pus- and blood-filled infections did not adequate veterinary examinations and treatment. Sometimes, the conditions were ineffectively handled by workers who had no credentials or veterinary training.
Animals at PLRS were used in cruel and painful tests. In one experiment that was conducted for a major corporation whose products are stocked on store shelves nationwide, a test chemical was applied to the necks of 57 cats. The cats exhibited severe adverse reactions that day, suffering seizures and bleeding from the nose and mouth. In spite of the extreme and obvious reactions, the cats were exposed to the chemical for a second time that very same day. Rabbits at PLRS were intentionally and repeatedly forced to “wear” a tightly wrapped capsule containing thousands of ticks and were then killed.
A supervisor gave one dog an anesthetic that was past its expiration date, and then pulled out one of the animal’s teeth with a pair of pliers. The dog trembled and twitched in apparent pain, and the supervisor continued with the procedure despite the dog’s obvious reaction. Workers repeatedly cut into one dog’s tender, blood-filled ear, draining blood and pus but never treating the underlying cause of the dog’s suffering and caused the ear to become infected.
Dogs were intentionally subjected to worm infestations for tests, but conditions were so sloppy and unorganized that dogs who weren’t supposed to be part of the study also became infested and were then left untreated.
Please be a voice for the animals who are suffering at PLRS. Take a minute of your time today to urge the pharmaceutical companies that are conducting business with PLRS to permanently sever their ties with this testing laboratory, and please boycott companies who test on animals if possible.
Choose Cruelty-Free and humane alternatives to vivisection.
post by skylar! [source: People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)]
