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Comedian Ricky Gervais and vegan actor and advocate Peter Egan have backed a campaign calling for six dogs in a university lab to be freed.
The one-year-old animals, at a major university in Gothenburg, are due to be killed at the end of the month. They are part of an experiment to test how dental implants cause inflammation and bone degradation. In less than two weeks, researchers plan to slaughter the dogs so that studies can be carried out on their tissues and blood.
Swedish animal rights organization, Djurrättsalliansen (Animal rights Alliance) has been pleading with Gothenberg University to free Venus, Milia, Mimosa, Luna, Lotus and Zuri, handing over a petition which has garnered more than 80,000 signatures. Now Animal Justice Project has joined forces with Djurrättsalliansen to continue to raise awareness.
Dental experiments
Dental research on dogs at Gothenburg University has been going on since at least 2009 – with the animals suffering intensely. Before the test is complete, the Labradors will have been anesthetized six times, and had 35 percent of their teeth pulled out.
An ex-veterinarian from the university, Dr. Mark Collins, points out that there are other ways to study human dental implants and that dogs and humans have vastly different teeth. “These dogs know exactly what to expect when they enter the surgery room, and they are afraid,” he added.
‘Do the right thing’
“The fate of these six dogs literally hangs in the balance – I urge Gothenburg University to do the right thing by ending the study and re-homing these dogs to the loving families they deserve,” Peter Egan said.
“We’ve banned cosmetics testing on animals in Europe, and yet dogs continue to be used in cruel and unnecessary experiments .. this time for our gums. This is no way to treat man’s best friend.”
Futile experiments
Daniel Rolke, Founder of Animal Rights Alliance, said: “The campaign to end these cruel and completely futile experiments has been huge here in Sweden but we are running out of time. The dogs will be killed in two weeks.”
Claire Palmer, Founder of Animal Justice Project, added: “Around 26,000 international students attend universities in Sweden – many will be studying at Gothenburg University, and we are certain that they will be shocked to learn that Labradors – voted Britain’s most loved dog last year are being treated so abhorrently before being killed inside the university walls. No animals should be suffering painful and unnecessary experiments inside universities.”
Dr. Andre Menache, Science Advisor for both organizations, said: “These dog experiments are not only very cruel but scientifically meaningless for human patients. I challenge these researchers to defend their research in a public debate.”
Despite the petition and protests, Gothenburg University has stated the experiments will continue and has declined to be interviewed in Swedish media.
