News of PETA’s success in bringing four animal-lab workers to justice comes only a few months after I learned the university in my hometown is opening a 4500-square-foot animal laboratory. The University of British Columbia Okanagan in Kelowna will likely adhere to higher standards than the private North Carolina lab, but the animals it tests will be sacrificed to our continued indifference to the inherent worth of our fellow creatures.

The legal proceedings in North Carolina stem from an undercover investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. First-hand observations led to indictments against four workers at a North Carolina testing lab. They face felony cruelty charges for abusing and neglecting the animals in their care.

Kathy Guillermo, a PETA investigator, spent four months working at Professional Laboratory and Research Services. The company force-fed experimental chemical compounds to dogs and cats and smeared them on their skins. The corporations that hired them are familiar names in pharmaceuticals and pet supplies. The PETA release lists them as “Bayer, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Schering-Plough (now Merck), Sergeant’s*, Wellmark, and Merial, the maker of Frontline flea and tick products.”

Guillermo was quoted by WAVY.com as saying, “Most of what’s done to animals inside laboratories is legal, what made this case so different is that these animals were hit, they were kicked, they were thrown, they were denied decent care, they were living in filth, they were living in substandard conditions.”

The lab closed after the U.S. Department of Agriculture began investigating PETA’s report in September 2010. That’s good news for the 200 dogs and 50 cats confiscated from the facility. Still, PETA reports that “More than 100 million animals are poisoned, burned, crippled, and abused in other ways in U.S. labs each year.”

*Update: Care2 has received a letter from Sergeant’s Pet Care Products questioning our reporting. In this story, we said of PLRS’ clients: “The PETA release lists them as “Bayer, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Schering-Plough (now Merck), Sergeant’s, Wellmark, and Merial, the maker of Frontline flea and tick products.” Sergeant’s says that they “stopped working with PLRS (the lab in question) in 2006. “ They continued, saying “PETA’s investigation was based on video footage they state was taken between December 2009 and August 2010. Sergeant’s had no relationship with PLRS during the time period in which PETA obtained the video footage or conducted its investigation.” As we cited, this particular portion of the report was based on “The PETA release” and was reported in good faith. We regret any confusion.

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