Horseshoe crabs are being literally bled to death in US laboratories by pharmaceutical giants such as Charles River Laboratories. The blood is used as a toxin detection in the development of vaccines and drugs. While there are synthetic alternatives being used in Europe such as recombinant Factor C (rFC) developed by Basel based Lonza, US companies are choosing money over compassion and intelligent science. 

The horrific practice involves piercing the horseshoe crab in the heart to extract its blood. It takes approximately eight minutes to take the animal’s blood. 

Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland have destroyed 700,000 horseshoe crabs in 2021 alone. This practice is also negatively impacting migratory shorebirds such as the Red Knot whose population has dwindled by 94% over the last 40 years. 

Please sign this petition to end this brutal practice of bleeding horseshoe crabs! Put pressure on Charles River Laboratories to choose recombinant Factor C over animal cruelty!