Owls experience joy and can suffer, just like humans. How can our nation protect inanimate corporations from harm but deny protection to complex, sentient beings?
ZACHARY TOLIVER: Thirty barn owls — extremely smart, empathetic animals who use tools and care for their young — are being held captive in a Johns Hopkins University laboratory run by Shreesh Mysore. They will be tortured in invasive brain experiments and killed because of a congressionally mandated death sentence, which PETA is arguing in federal court is unconstitutional.
This death sentence is the 2002 Helms Amendment, which deprived birds, mice, and rats of the protections of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) simply because of their species. In the U.S., these species constitute 99% of all animals used in laboratories, which means that tens of millions of animals are not protected by the AWA during cruel and deadly experiments.
In a groundbreaking case for animal rights, PETA — along with a current JHU student, a former Maryland secretary of health, and animal welfare activist and actor Evanna Lynch — is suing the federal government as “next friend” to the plaintiffs (in this case, these owls) because the Constitution is clear: Congress can’t inflict punishment on anyone in legislation. That includes inanimate corporations — so it must also include living, breathing animals… How can our nation protect inanimate corporations from harm but deny protection to complex, sentient beings?…
Experimenters at JHU cut open owls’ skulls and implant electrodes in their brains, lock them in restraint devices, and then bombard them with noises and lights to observe their reactions. After experimenters mutilate these birds’ brain tissue, they will ultimately kill all the plaintiffs.
Experimenters can subject owls to torment and kill them in large part because of an amendment to the AWA drafted by notorious civil rights foe Sen. Jesse Helms. The Helms Amendment excludes “birds, rats … and mice … bred for use in research, from coverage under the AWA”… This amendment stripped the secretary of agriculture of the ability to issue or enforce standards, rules, regulations, and other requirements for the humane treatment of these animals.
This amendment stripped the secretary of agriculture of the ability to issue or enforce standards, rules, regulations, and other requirements for the humane treatment of these animals… According to the experimenter’s own public statement, “Animals are capable of complex behaviors and cognitive functions.” Like all animals, owls are individuals with distinct personalities. They live in communities built on complex social relationships… Owls experience joy and can suffer, just like humans. Like all species, they share an innate desire to live free from harm…
The goal of this litigation is to have the Helms Amendment abolished so that the federal government can do its job under the AWA. Currently, the amendment functions as a death sentence for tens of millions of animals every single year. A legal victory could mean that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would be ordered to issue rules that require the humane treatment of birds used in laboratories and conduct rigorous inspections to ensure adherence to those standards. SOURCE…
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