02/07/05 Iams - an Expert in Marketing Deceptions!
Repeated reaction of Animal Friends on Iams' action of donating pet food to dog shelters
Referring to internationally coordinated actions which Animal Friends held in cooperation with the world greatest animal rights organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), on December 1, 2003 and November 6, 2004, once again, unfortunately as the only organization in Croatia which raised its voice against abuse of dogs and cats in Iams labs, we want to highlight "the painful procedure of producing" Iams and Eukanuba pet food.
In our previous press releases we've already reported on PETA's undercover investigation that revealed deplorable conditions at an Iams contract laboratory in the United States: Terrified, unsocialized animals cowering in their cages and suffering from untreated ear infections and injured paws, dogs' vocal chords surgically cut out so that they couldn't bark, dogs being force-fed vegetable oil through tubes inserted down their throats, a live kitten who was washed down a drain.
As a result of this great international campaign backed up with video footages and photos (available at www.iamscruelty.com) Iams announced that it will stop using university and private contract laboratories for its pet-food tests and transfer tests to its own Dayton facility within two years, as well as stepping up the use of home testing and testing in animal shelters and other non-laboratory settings.
Although, as early as 1999, Iams announced that it would no longer kill animals at the end of studies, and yet it is believed that a current Iams study protocol at Auburn University in the US calls for 80 to 120 geriatric beagles to be impregnated and then killed after their puppies are weaned. Furthermore, Iams is still doing following:
- Replacing dogs and cats with other animals as it has at Purdue University in the US, where it has just given $195,000 to study muscle atrophy in mice until June 2006. Muscle atrophy in rodents is created by suspending the animals by their tails for weeks or months at a time. Purdue is currently conducting kidney-failure experiments on dogs for Iams that will continue until July 2005.
- Expanding its own Dayton facility, meaning that it has no intention of giving up all experiments on dogs and cats.
- Continuing to fund chair positions at universities where nutritional testing is conducted. Often, the experiments in physiology and other departments at universities are worse than those that Iams conducted prior to being bought by P&G, resulting in the mutilation and deaths of dogs and cats used in bone-formation experiments and other equally cruel, painful tests.
- Refusing to allow PETA to tour its retirement locations. There is nothing proprietary about such facilities.
For many years Iams takes advantage of poor financial situation of dog shelters by supporting them financially and/or by donating free dog food or by selling them dog food on discount prices, and in such way 'buys' support of those organizations which would most likely stop cooperating with Iams if they knew of Iams cruel animal experiments.
More and more animal shelters from all over the world make ethical choices and refuse Iams' pet food and rather use only pet food by producers that don't test on the animals. Over one hundred of pet shelters and organizations that deal with animal protection and welfare issues have brought an ethical decision of boycotting Iams as long as the company conducts animal experiments which even aren't obligatory.
It is clear that Iams started to apply his method with Croatian organizations which work on dog protection and to which Iams has donated dog food. Animal Friends does not condemn organizations which accepted donations because we understand how much they needed it, but we want to warn the public of marketing deceptions Iams makes and their attempt of trivializing animal tests that are conducted "far away in some American labs."
Animal Friends will not react on statements that came from some dog protection organizations, but as an organization oriented to education we and our volunteers will keep on working on campaigns which warn about animal abuse in all areas of the economy and on campaigns for improving of Croatian laws concerning companion, domestic and wild animals.
Therefore Animal Friends announces a loud protest against killing of animals for fur which will take place already this Saturday, February 12, 2005, with the beginning at 11 A.M. in front of Croatian National Theatre. All ethically and ecologically conscientious citizens are invited.
