In 2014, I adopted my best friend Violet from the basement of a taxpayer-funded animal experimentation lab. Now, I’m working with Congress to get dogs like her, as well as cats and monkeys, released from government labs at the end of experiments. 

When I met Violet, she lived alone in a cage in a laboratory basement.  She had never been outside, never seen stairs and most of her experiences with humans involved fear and pain. She loved other dogs but was understandably terrified of humans. Now, we’re inseparable, and she’s best friends with our cats and even helps us foster kittens!

But, Violet is one of the lucky ones. Thousands of cats, monkeys and dogs like her are experimented on each year in government labs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Smithsonian Institution.

Because its quicker and easier than relocating them to rescue groups, private homes or sanctuaries, experimenters usually kill these animals and dispose of them like trash, even if they’re healthy. 

Now, the taxpayers who bought these animals want them released. Recently, our organization White Coat Waste Project has secured the retirement of monkeys from the FDA, cats from the USDA, and dogs from the VA – but our work is far from over.

Please join me in urging all government agencies to #GiveThemBack: retire and release animals at the end of taxpayer-funded experiments!

--Julie Germany, Board Member, White Coat Waste Project