Beagle’ Killed In Pet-Food Tests Laid To Rest In Madrid

For Immediate Release:
13 November 2003

Contact:
Andrew Butler 44 (0) 20 7357 9229, ext 230; 44 (0) 779 344 4020 (mobile)
Dawn Carr 44 (0) 20 7357 9229, ext 224

Madrid – A giant 6-foot ‘beagle’ will be carried in a flower-covered coffin to the gates of Procter & Gamble (P&G) in Madrid, to illustrate the misery of animals neglected and killed in crude ‘nutrition’ tests by the P&G-owned pet-food company Iams, who also manufacture Eukanuba. Concerned PETA members and dog- and cat-food purchasers will also hold signs reading, ‘Iams: Detenga las pruebas en animales’. The protest will mark the Spanish launch of PETA’s international campaign against Iams – similar actions are taking place throughout Europe and North America.

Date:  Friday, 14 November
Time: 12 noon-1 p.m.
Place: P&G Spain, Av. Del Partenon, 16-18, Campo De Las Naciones

A recent PETA 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’ labs are equally deplorable. A whistleblower at an Iams contract laboratory in Austria reported that dogs at the facility are regularly kicked and beaten and that many become psychotic from being confined to small, barren, concrete cells for up to seven years. PETA’s Iams lab investigation also revealed the following:

• Dogs and cats 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 has hurt and killed dogs and cats in real-life tests while feeding its customers a fiction about caring for animals’, says PETA Director Dawn Carr. ‘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’s Web site IamsCruelty.com.