PETITION TARGET: U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn Thompson
In research labs, frogs’ legs are amputated to study limb regeneration, and zebrafish have their fins clipped and acid injected into their bodies to test their stress response.
Yet despite the suffering these experiments can cause, cold-blooded animals used in research or exhibitions are excluded from the U.S. Animal Welfare Act’s protections – including protocols for pain relief.
The scale of this cruelty is also difficult to track. Although millions of fish and hundreds of thousands of amphibians are estimated to be used in U.S. research, facilities are not required to report exact numbers.
Now, U.S. Representative Betty McCollum has reintroduced the Cold-blooded Animal Research and Exhibition Act to extend the AWA’s protections to cold-blooded animals.
Putting these animals under the purview of the AWA would require facilities to report how many cold-blooded animals are in their possession, establish standard welfare protocols for their care, including pain relief, and provide federal oversight that is currently lacking.
These animals are sentient beings who feel pain like warm-blooded creatures, and they deserve the same protection from mistreatment as any other animal.
Sign our petition urging the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Chairman to support the Cold-blooded Animal Research and Exhibition Act to protect cold-blooded animals used in research and exhibitions.
