About 20 people with signs declaring the U to be “Animal Hell” gathered outside of the Park Building to protest alleged animal rights violations by U researchers.
The protest Tuesday stemmed from the release of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ findings from an undercover eight-month study the group did on research labs at the U.
Colleen Hatfield, director of the Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement, was a main organizer of the protest and said she wants to pressure the U to stop testing on animals and make its research methods public.
“If what they’re doing is so noble, why can’t (anyone) walk in and see it?” Hatfield said.
Karissa Schneider, an undeclared freshman, and her sister, Emmy Schneider, a junior in mass communication, took part in the protest because they said they were disturbed by what PETA uncovered with its investigation.
“I thought it was disgusting,” said Emmy Schneider, who is a member of PETA, about U researchers injecting fluid into kittens’ brains for research. She said she was also shocked to find out that the U bought many of the laboratory animals from local shelters.
“I volunteer at (animal) shelters, and I didn’t know that Utah had a law that allowed laboratories to take animals,” Emmy Schneider said.
Michael Sharpe, a 2008 U graduate, who was at the protest trying to garner support for an initiative that would outlaw research labs from buying animals from shelters.
“We want to stop our homeless animals from being tortured in our research and laboratory facilities in Utah,” Sharpe said.
Scott Allen, a junior in chemistry, said he didn’t agree with the protest or the demands of its participants.
“I actually do work in research in the (U’s) school of pharmacy, and we always do the best we can to make sure the animals are treated properly,” he said. “We care about them. They’re living just like we’re living,”
Hatfield, however, doesn’t think the U needs to be using animals for research at all.
“Almost everything you can imagine to test on animals has already been done,” she said, saying that U researchers instead look at past studies done on animals.
If the U must do research on living cells, Hatfield said stem cells should be used in place of animal testing.
“Nobody suffers in stem cell research,” she said.
Allen said he watched clips from PETA’s undercover study on the local news but said he didn’t think anything he saw would justify ending animal testing at the U.
“I think that just like anything else, there are lapses in the way things are done,” he said. “Sometimes mistakes are make, and that’s probably what it was.”
Eddie Schnecklotheddie schneckloth/The Daily Utah Chronicle In a protest outside of the Park Building, Director of Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement Colleen Hatfield voices her opinion about animal testing at the U.