Caged ‘Cats’ & ‘Dogs’ Protest Cruel Iams Experiments
Multinational Company Imprisons Animals to Test Dog and Cat Foods
For Immediate Release:
9 February 2004
Contact:
Sean Gifford 44 (0) 20 7357 9229, ext 226; 44 (0) 773 457 9092 (mobile)
Dawn Carr 44 (0) 20 7357 9229, ext 224
Holland – Dressed in prisoner suits and dog and cat masks, activists in three Dutch cities will cram themselves into cages to illustrate the misery of animals neglected and killed in crude ‘nutrition’ tests conducted by the Procter & Gamble (P&G)-owned pet-food company Iams, which also manufacture Eukanuba. Concerned PETA Europe members and dog- and cat-food purchasers will also hold signs reading, ‘Stop Iams Cruelty’. The protests will mark the official Dutch launch of PETA’s international campaign against Iams – similar actions are taking place throughout Europe and North America.
Date: 10 February
Time: 12 noon sharp
Place: Grote Markt 21, Groningen, near Vroom & Dreesman
Date: 11 February
Time: 12 noon sharp
Place: Het Raadhuisplein, Apeldoorn
Date: 12 February
Time: 12 noon sharp
Place: Heuvelstraat 1, Tilburg, near Australian Homemade
A recent PETA U.S.A undercover investigation revealed deplorable conditions at an Iams contract laboratory in the United States. 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. Other Iams activities are equally deplorable. A whistleblower at a laboratory in Austria reported that dogs used by a vivisector whose salary is purportedly funded by Iams, are regularly kicked and beaten and that many become psychotic from being confined to small, barren, concrete cells for up to seven years. PETA U.S.A’s Iams lab investigation also revealed the following:
• Dogs indefinitely confined to small cages in dungeon-like rooms
• Dogs’ vocal chords surgically cut out so that they couldn’t bark
• Dogs suffering from untreated ear infections, rotten teeth and injured paws
• Workers’ reports of a live kitten who was washed down a drain
• Terrified, unsocialized animals cowering in their cages
• Kennels that were stifling during summer months and near freezing in winter
• Dogs being force-fed vegetable oil through tubes inserted down their throats
Iams is cruelly imprisoning dogs and cats in real-life tests while feeding its customers a fiction about caring for animals’, says PETA Europe Director of European Campaigns Sean Gifford. ‘New companion-animal foods need to be tested at home, not on caged, lonely prisoner dogs and cats in laboratories hidden from the public.’
Broadcast-quality footage of animals in an Iams contract laboratory will be available on site. For more information, please visit PETA.nl.
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