PETA Urges the University of East Anglia to Stop Force-Feeding Mice Poo
PETA scientists have rushed a letter to the University of East Anglia, urging it to stop a cruel experiment that involves force-feeding mice with poo.
Instead of finding outrageous ways to abuse and torment sensitive animals, the university must be true to its commitment to finding “alternatives to the use of animals”, as it states on its website.
Transplanting Faeces Into Mice Is Gross and Cruel
Not only is experimenting with faeces completely disgusting, it also brings pain and distress to unwilling mice.
Imagine spending your life in a miserable laboratory, never able to leave or live free in the outside world or engage in natural behaviour such as building nests, caring for young, or socialising with other mice. Now, imagine you’re also being force-fed someone else’s faeces.
Experimenters were transplanting poo between younger and older mice in an attempt to reverse aging in the gut, eye, and brain. Some of the mice were force-fed a cocktail of antibiotics and then force-fed a faecal slurry days later. Bedding soiled with another mouse’s faeces was also transferred between cages – meaning mice were forced to sleep in filthy conditions. At the end of the experiment, the mice were killed.
It’s Time to Move Away From Experiments on Animals
We don’t need mice to tell us that bacteria living in the gut can change with age – there is already an abundance of human data on this, and other studies have revealed similar results.
Furthermore, the university is forgetting something crucial: humans are not mice. Experimental treatments that are developed using animals are not relevant to humans.
This experiment did nothing but waste money and mice’s lives. The university would be far better off investing its time in observing the many human patients who have already received this type of treatment.
There’s a Better Way
Along with the letter, PETA scientists provided the university with a strategy for modernising research and moving away from experiments on animals: our Research Modernisation Deal.
The Research Modernisation Deal outlines a roadmap for replacing the use of animals in experiments with human-relevant methods – and we’re calling on the UK government to implement it immediately.
Help Animals in Laboratories
Whether it’s a mouse, a rabbit, or a dog, the best way to help each individual animal suffering a miserable life in a laboratory is to sign our petition.
If you are outraged by this pointless and disgusting experiment, add your name now. Urge the government to end ALL experiments on animals:
