DOG RUNS AMOK AT CRUFTS TO PROTEST CRUEL IAMS ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS

PETA Reveals Iams’ Shameful Secret: Dogs Killed in Companion Animal Food Tests

For Immediate Release:
7 March 2004

Contact:
Sean Gifford 0773 457 9092
Andrew Butler 0779 344 4020

Birmingham – Today, dressed as a giant ‘beagle’, 29 year old PETA member Andrew Butler from London 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 canine crusader, accompanied by four human companions carrying  banners reading ‘Stop Iams Animal Tests’,  scaled a wall and jumped into the ring to expose the hidden misery of animals neglected and killed in crude ‘nutrition’ 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.

A recent undercover investigation conducted by PETA 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 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’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

‘We’re howling mad that Iams 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 PETA’s Web site IamsCruelty.com.

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