WHAT'S NEXT

CHARGE ANIMAL ABUSERS AT NORTH CAROLINA RESEARCH LAB
  1. Signatures
    3,209 out of 5,000
    Petitioning
    1. District Attorney (+ 10 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • District Attorney (Frank R. Parrish)
      • U.S. Department of Agriculture / Animal Plant Health Inspection Services (U.S. Department of Agriculture / Animal Plant Health Inspection Services)
      • Deputy Administrator, Animal Care (Dr. Chester A. Gipson)
      • North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture (Steve Troxler)
      • USDA (Cindy J. Smith)
      • USDA (Michael C. Gregoire)
      • USDA (USDA)
      • NCAGR (David Smith)
      • NCAGR (Howard Isley)
      • NCAGR (Richard Reich)
      • NCAGR (David McLeod)
  2. Created By
    KINSHIP CIRCLE
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
How We Won

Jul 06, 2011

An undercover investigation by PETA exposed appalling abuse and neglect of dogs, cats and rabbits at Professional Laboratory and Research Services, Inc. in North Carolina, a contract company that tested insecticides and other chemicals for pharmaceutical companies. More than 3,200 Change.org members joined PETA and Kinship Circle in calling for the employees responsible to be charged with animal cruelty.

In early July, four workers from PLRS were indicted on 14 felony animal cruelty charges. This is the first time in U.S. history that individuals faced felony charges for the mistreatment of animals in a laboratory, and only the second time that cruelty to animals in a laboratory resulted in criminal prosecution.

Animals used in laboratories have very few protections. The exposure of this abuse by PETA, along with the thousands of people who spoke up for these animals and helped shine a light on the case made it possible to set a new precedent for holding lab workers responsible for the mistreatment of animals.

The Corapeake, NC lab was forced to close and surrender its “test subjects” after a PETA investigation uncovered diseased and wounded dogs, cats and rabbits. Over 9 months, PETA’s investigator recorded staff brutalizing terrified animals. One worker used pliers to wrench teeth from a frantic dog. Another tried to pull out a cat’s claws.

Recent Signatures

Charge Animal Abusers At North Carolina Research Lab

Regulatory Agencies and District Attorney Parrish:

I am shocked by findings from nine months inside Professional Laboratory and Research Services Inc. (PLRS) in Corapeake, North Carolina. According to an undercover PETA investigation at this research laboratory, from December 2009 to September 2010 hundreds of animals suffered flagrant cruelty.

In light of this investigation, I understand that PLRS will close and surrender some 200 dogs and dozens of cats. This is fantastic news. Still, the abuse that occurred was so sadistic it warrants criminal charges.

PETA's undercover footage shows diseased and injured dogs, cats and rabbits. Their sores fester in waste encrusted cages. Some are showered in abrasive chemicals and bleach when staff clean enclosures with the animals inside them. The investigator recorded PLRS staff cursing animals as they kick, toss, drop and drag dogs. Employees brutally haul rabbits around by their
ears and smash cats into cages.

I respectfully ask District Attorney Parrish to investigate allegations of animal abuse at PLRS. If arrests are made, please advocate maximum incarceration and fines. In North Carolina, "intentional deprivation of necessary sustenance" and the "malicious torture" of any animal is now a
Class H felony (per Article 47. Cruelty to Animals. S 14-360. Cruelty to animals; construction of section - AMENDED 2010).

In one experiment, a test chemical seeps into the necks of 57 cats who seize and hemorrhage from their noses and mouths. Their intolerance to the substance is obvious. Yet, they are dosed a second time on the very same day. Medical care, for all intents and purposes, is fictional at PLRS. A
veterinarian apparently stops by for just one hour most weeks.

I hope a USDA-APHIS formal investigation results in penalties for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Clearly, PLRS provided insufficient veterinary care and hygiene, and mistreated animals in their care.

I encourage regulatory agencies and law-enforcement authorities to take a hard look at PETA's video and investigative journals. Malicious abuse, neglect and torture of any animal merits punitive action. I look forward to your updates in this disturbing case.

Thank you,

[Your name]

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