Protester Dogs Crufts To Highlight Cruel Iams Animal Experiments
PETA Reveals Shameful Secret: Dogs Killed by Crufts Sponsor in Companion Animal Food Tests
For Immediate Release:
14 March 2005
Contact:
Yvonne Taylor 020 7357 9229, ext. 405
Dawn Carr 020 7357 9229, ext. 224
Birmingham – Last night, an angry PETA member took over the main ring during the Best in Show presentation at Crufts, where Iams, one of the show’s major sponsors, were promoting their dog- and cat-food products. The animal crusader, Joanne Sim from Edinburgh, unfurled a banner reading, ‘Iams: Puppy Killers’, and scaled a wall and jumped into the ring to expose the hidden misery of animals neglected and killed in crude tests conducted by the company. The protest is part of PETA’s international campaign against Iams – with demonstrations and disruptions taking place throughout Europe and North America.
An undercover investigation conducted by PETA in the US revealed deplorable conditions at an Iams contract laboratory. At least 27 dogs were destroyed, while others died of illnesses that went untreated, despite assurances from Iams that no animal in any Iams test would ever be deliberately killed. PETA’s Iams lab investigation also revealed the following:
• Dogs indefinitely confined to small cages in dungeon-like rooms
• Dogs’ vocal cords surgically cut out so that they couldn’t bark
• Dogs who were suffering from untreated ear infections, rotten teeth and injured paws
• Workers’ reports of a live kitten who was washed down a drain
• Terrified, unsocialised animals cowering in their cages
• Kennels that were stifling during summer months and near freezing in winter
• Dogs force-fed vegetable oil through tubes inserted down their throats
Iams continues to use contract laboratories across the US for foods that it sells in the UK. None of these tests are required by law. Feeling intense pressure over its use of contract laboratories to test its dog and cat foods, Iams recently announced that it will pull out of all contract and university facilities by October 2006. But the company plans to double the size of its own laboratory in the US, creating an impenetrable “Fort Knox” where it can experiment on animals behind locked doors.
“We’re howling mad that Iams, one of Crufts main sponsors, is causing misery and death for dogs and cats while feeding its customers a line of fiction”, says PETA Director Dawn Carr. “New companion-animal foods need to be tested at home, not on caged, lonely dogs and cats in laboratories hidden from the public.”
Broadcast-quality footage of animals in an Iams’ contract laboratory is available from PETA. For more information, please visit IamsCruelty.com.
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