People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is complaining about animal research involving cats that is being conducted at Palmer Chiropractic University.
PCU is conducting spinal research on cats as part of a federally-funded study. In a prepared statement, Dr. William C. Meeker, vice president for research at PCU, said,
We are intensely focused on preventing suffering and distress in laboratory animals when animals are part of investigations. . . . The animals in both projects are thoroughly anesthetized using humane, standardized protocols. The mere fact of the federal government’s support, which involves a rigorous application process to attain, argues that the experiments are considered well worth doing.
PETA’s Peter Wood told The Daytona Beach News-Journal,
If it’s anything remotely related to what they do to the rats [in similar spinal research], we believe it’s cruel and inhumane. . . . I think there is going to be some protests in Palmer’s future. They are supposed to be about healing and doing no harm, and what they are about to do is harmful to animals.
Meeker described PETA’s claims as “typical of the emotional tactics they have used to attack scientific research in university settings for decades.”
Sources:
Animal rights group protests school’s plans to test on live cats. Cindi Brownfield and Andrew Lyons, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, January 9, 2003.