Tag: animal cruelty

Eleven Republican Members of Congress Demand NIH End Fauci’s ‘Barbaric’ Animal Tests as Agency Clings to Cruel Legacy

Eleven members of Congress have signed a letter requesting that the National Institutes of Health end its funding for barbaric dog and cat experiments approved under Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The letter cited Gateway Pundit’s reporting and the relentless investigations of taxpayer watchdog White Coat Waste Project (WCW).

Writing to NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the House lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, demanded the immediate cancellation of all Fauci-funded dog and cat experiments. Citing WCW’s evidence, they blasted the NIH for “disturbing” tests, including a $10 million UNC-Chapel Hill project that breeds hemophiliac puppies only to slaughter them post-experiment. “We are sending this request with considerable urgency,” the lawmakers wrote, signaling a zero-tolerance stance on the NIH’s animal cruelty.

The letter cited Gateway Pundit’s exclusive report about how the NIH, under Director Bhattacharya, has renewed millions in funding for controversial experiments, including THC tests on monkeys at Harvard, tick bites on beagle puppies, and Anthony Fauci’s notorious “Monkey Island.”

“Ongoing investigations by the non-profit group White Coat Waste have documented how the NIH continues to renew and fund dozens of Dr. Fauci’s disturbing experiments on dogs and cats in labs around the world, in which animals are infested with insects, infected with viruses, force-fed experimental drugs, and killed,” the letter states.

Gosar laid out three ironclad demands to dismantle Dr. Anthony Fauci’s legacy of cruel animal testing. First, they requested that the NIH immediately cancel all active funding for dog and cat experiments approved under his tenure. Second, they insisted on a blanket prohibition of all new NIH grants for harmful dog and cat testing, aiming to choke off future atrocities. Finally, they demanded full transparency, asking the NIH to disclose all current taxpayer funding for these experiments, exposing the scope of the agency’s gruesome practices to public scrutiny.

The letter was co-signed by Republican Representatives Harriet Hageman, Daniel Webster, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace, Eli Crane, Scott Perry, Pete Stauber, Michael Cloud, Chris Smith, and Pat Fallon.

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County prosecutor explains why charges against 3 local men who put cats into trash compactor have been dropped

Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Elaine Becker announced the formal charges against three former Jayco employees filed earlier this week, stemming from alleged animal cruelty at Jayco, have been dismissed due to the need for further investigation and clarification of facts and circumstances documented during the investigation.

Becker says a scrivener’s error, which was found in the Probable Cause Affidavit filed in support of the original charges, provoked additional investigative questions.

The county prosecutor says that error attributed a statement to Devon Miller as follows:

“Ptl. Yutzy spoke with Devon Miller, the vice president of operation at Jayco, who indicated the men acted in the company’s best interest by placing the live cats into the trash compactor.”

Becker says the phrase is not accurate and there is “no evidence documented in the police investigation to suggest that Mr. Miller endorsed, or approved of, the decisions or the behaviors of the three employees.”

Once the prosecutor’s office was notified of the discrepancy, officials made further inquiries regarding the facts and circumstances of the allegations.

The prosecuting attorney is “awaiting the results of that additional investigation, which has impacted the veracity of the original charging decision.”

Becker says a Motion to Dismiss each case was filed before anyone’s liberty was affected by an arrest.

Officials say until the additional information can be meaningfully considered, any amended charging decision will not be made.

The county prosecutor’s office added no interviews will be afforded at this time as they await further evidence before any additional official actions will be undertaken.

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Great News: Trump’s EPA Ending Animal Testing Nightmare and Will Be Putting Retired Lab Animals Up for Adoption

Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not just committed to phasing out cruel and outdated animal testing, but it has now also approved a program for putting the retired laboratory animals up for adoption, following months of discussion with the non-profit White Coat Waste.

The adoption plan was unearthed in internal EPA documents by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and confirmed to White Coat Waste, the taxpayer watchdog that’s been relentless in exposing and dismantling government-funded animal torture.

Peer said in a press release, “There are approximately 20,000 animals in EPA labs, including rabbits, mice, and rats, which are primarily used to gauge the safety of environmental pollutants. The adoption program, which is debuting at EPA’s Research Triangle complex in North Carolina, is now offering zebrafish and rats for private adoption.”

Anthony Bellotti, President and Founder of White Coat Waste, celebrated the news in a statement:

“Reinstating the EPA’s animal testing phase-out and its lab animal retirement policy has been a top priority for White Coat Waste since day one of the new Trump Administration. We applaud President Trump and EPA Administrator Zeldin for keeping their promise to taxpayers and pet owners.

White Coat Waste worked with the first Trump Administration to eliminate tests on dogs, rabbits, and all other mammals by 2035 and to retire animal testing survivors.  When the Biden Administration secretly revoked the 2035 deadline and killed rabbits slated for retirement, we blew the whistle—not the legacy animal groups who stayed silent while the killing resumed behind closed doors.

White Coat Waste led the only bipartisan campaign that united Congressional Republicans and Democrats to pass legislation directing the EPA to restore its phase-out timeline and retirement plans. From the beginning of the Trump Administration to today, White Coat Waste has been leading the campaign to cut EPA’s wasteful spending and to retire EPA’s lab survivors. We’re proud of our hard-fought win—and we won’t stop until the last animal is out.”

The decision to end animal testing builds on a push initiated under President Donald Trump’s first term, but squashed by the Biden administration.

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SHOCK SCANDAL: Fauci’s NIH Lapdog Desperately Justifies Barbaric Animal Tests as PETA Comes to Her DEFENSE

NIH Acting Deputy Director Nicole Kleinstreuer, a Barack Obama-era staffer and noted fangirl of Dr. Anthony Fauci, has indirectly responded to the backlash from a recent Gateway Pundit report by defending the continued funding of animal torture tests, with shocking support from PETA!

The Gateway Pundit report, “EXCLUSIVE: NIH Renews Grants for Harvard Monkey Lab, Fauci’s Beagle and Primate Tests,” sparked significant attention after White Coat Waste (WCW), a watchdog organization aimed at ending taxpayer-funded animal experimentation, amplified the story on X.

The article, citing WCW, revealed that despite the Department of Veterans Affairs and Navy under President Donald Trump working to end inhumane animal testing, the National Institutes of Health, led by Director Jay Bhattacharya, has reauthorized millions in funding for contentious experiments. These include THC testing on monkeys at Harvard, tick-bite studies on beagle puppies, and Anthony Fauci’s infamous “Monkey Island” project.

The article quoted Kleinstreuer saying in a recent NPR interview that the NIH has “no intention of just phasing out animal studies overnight.”

Her comments stand in contrast with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledging a “dramatic reduction in animal testing at NIH” in April.

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Florida Police: Christian School Teacher May Have Used Student Images to Create AI Child Porn

A sixth-grade teacher in Central Florida was arrested this week on a host of charges for possessing child pornography, apparently created with online AI technology and possibly using student photos from his Christian school.

State Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office charged David McKeown of Holly Hill with 19 enhanced felony counts of possession of child sexual abuse material and six counts of possession of animal pornography, according to a statement released by the office.

McKeown was arrested Friday by the Holly Hill Police Department at his home in Volusia County. He was a sixth-grade teacher at United Brethren in Christ (UBIC) Academy, a school affiliated with the UBIC church.

Holly Hill Police Department’s investigation alleges that McKeown shared and downloaded pornographic images depicting child porn via Discord, an online chat service, while at school and connected to the school’s Wi-Fi network.

Some 30 images were allegedly shared, including six files depicting McKeown sexually abusing animals, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLA) reported.

Uthmeier said in the statement:

As a teacher, parents trusted Mr. McKeown to impart knowledge to their children. Instead, he spent parts of the school day sending and receiving child sex abuse material and providing other pedophiles with UBIC Academy students’ personal information. What he did is beyond betrayal — it’s devastating and sick.

The investigation was launched early this month after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which tracks the internet for exploitative content involving minors, Orlando’s Fox 35 reported.

The news outlet also reported authorities believe McKeown used AI technology to create the pornographic images and may have used photos of real children, perhaps his own students. The investigation is continuing.

Detectives seized a number of devices from the teacher’s home in Holly Hill and from the school. He was booked into the Volusia County jail and a judge denied him the possibility of bond.

If convicted, he faces up to 315 years in prison, officials said.

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NIH Renews Grants for Harvard Monkey Lab, Fauci’s Beagle and Primate Tests

Despite President Donald Trump’s Department of Veterans Affairs and Navy moving to end cruel animal testing, the National Institutes of Health, under Director Jay Bhattacharya, has renewed millions in funding for controversial experiments, including THC tests on monkeys at Harvard, tick bites on beagle puppies, and Anthony Fauci’s notorious “Monkey Island,” prompting criticism from watchdog group White Coat Waste.

Last month, Gateway Pundit reported how President Trump’s Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, confirmed the department will end primate testing before a 2026 deadline set by Congress.

Following years of campaigning by the watchdog organization White Coat Waste, President Trump’s first administration set the VA on the path to ending testing on dogs, cats and primates after WCW exposed how the agency was giving puppies heart attacks, injecting monkeys with angel dust, crippling kittens, drilling into cat’s skulls, and much more.

Also in May, Trump’s U.S. Navy banned all testing on dogs and cats. The Navy credited WCW, as well as journalist Laura Loomer, the Department of Government Efficiency, and Senator Rand Paul, “for bringing the issue of animal abuse to our attention, leading to the Navy’s decision to ban medical research testing on cats and dogs.”

But holdovers from the Obama and Biden Administrations appear to be preventing this kind of progress at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A Barack Obama-era NIH staffer, Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer, has been appointed by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya to be the NIH’s Acting Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives. Earlier this month, Kleinstreuer told NPR that the NIH has “no intention of just phasing out animal studies overnight.”

The NIH has renewed several controversial animal testing projects initiated by Dr. Anthony Fauci and other NIH staff members.

Gateway Pundit has learned that the NIH has re-upped grant funds for THC experiments on young monkeys at Harvard University’s McLean Hospital that WCW exposed through a Freedom of Information Act request and that Gateway covered in April. The NIH has committed five more years of taxpayer funding to the project, which was initially scheduled to end on April 30, 2025, and has now received nearly $4.5 million.

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Hegseth Says DOD Was Spending Tens of Millions Sticking Marbles Inside the Rear Ends of Cats During Jaw-Dropping Senate Testimony

President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, testified before the Senate that the Department of Defense was spending tens of millions of dollars on tests that involved sticking “marbles in the rear ends of cats.”

Hegseth brought up the cruel and wasteful animal research during his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Wednesday.

The exchange began as Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin grilled Hegseth about his administration ending many wasteful research grants.

“Give me an example of a ‘boondoggle’ in medical research and defense health,” Sen. Durbin said, likely unprepared for the response.

“I mean, we’re talking about some stuff I shouldn’t say in public, you know, marbles in the rear ends of cats, tens of millions of dollars,” Hegseth said while pantomiming inserting a marble in a cat’s rectum. “Things that don’t have a connection to what you’re talking about.”

“Is this like three hundred and fifty year old Social Security check that the president told us about?” the senator shot back.

Hegseth replied, “I respect completely the issue that you’re speaking with, and this department couldn’t be more sympathetic to that and ensure that it’s funded. But the Defense Department has been a place where organizations, entities, and companies know they can get money almost unchecked to whether or not it actually applies to things that happen on the battlefield.”

Sen. Rand Paul thanked Hegseth for highlighting the spending that he worked with White Coat Waste, an organization dedicated to ending taxpayer-funded animal testing, to expose.

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New Orleans Police Officer Who Shot a Puppy Will Face Trial

A Louisiana police officer who shot and killed a puppy in 2021 will now face trial, after a lengthy legal battle.

On April 10, 2021, two New Orleans Police Department officers were called to Derek Brown and Julia Barecki-Brown’s home after receiving a noise complaint. According to legal documents, as the pair approached the house, one officer, Derrick Burmaster, claimed he made “kissy noises” to attract any dogs. Believing there were no dogs nearby, the officers approached the Brown’s house. As they did so, a dog began barking, and Burmaster drew his firearm. While the other officer left the Browns’ yard after hearing the barking, Burmaster stayed, and the Brown’s two dogs then ran down the stairs of the home and approached the officers.

One of the dogs, a 16-week-old, 22-pound puppy named Apollo approached Burmaster while wagging his tail. Burmaster fired three shots at Apollo, striking the dog in his neck and chest. Hearing gunshots, the Browns came into the yard, and Derek “held Apollo as he died from the gunshot wound,” according to the couple’s lawsuit.

The couple filed a lawsuit against Burmaster and the City of New Orleans in 2022, alleging that Burmaster unconstitutionally ‘seized’ Apollo by shooting him. “It is clearly established that an officer cannot shoot a dog in the absence of an objectively legitimate and imminent threat to him or others,” the suit reads. “A twenty-two-pound Catahoula puppy, standing less than a foot and a half tall, does not present an objectively legitimate and imminent threat to police officers.”

A yearslong legal battle followed. Earlier this year, the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled against Burmaster’s attempt to appeal a lower court’s decision that the case could not be thrown out on qualified immunity grounds. 

“A reasonable jury could conclude that Burmaster did not reasonably believe that Bruno, a small puppy who was wagging his tail shortly before the shooting, posed a threat,” the decision reads. “A reasonable jury could further conclude that Burmaster did not reasonably believe he was in imminent danger, based on Bruno’s [sic] size, Burmaster’s ability to exit the yard, and the availability of non-lethal tools like the taser and police boots.” (The ruling appears to have confused Apollo’s name.)

Despite efforts to toss the Browns’ suit, the case is now set to go to trial. This is far from the first case of “puppycide,” where a police officer has shot a dog that posed no obvious threat to his saftey. Burmaster himself fatally shot another dog in 2012, according to The Associated Press. Earlier this month, another Louisiana police department announced that it was investigating two different incidents in which officers shot dogs. It’s not uncommon for puppycide cases to be particularly nonsensical. Last year, a Missouri man sued an officer who shot his 13-pound, deaf and blind Shih Tzu. In 2023, another Missouri family’s dog wandered away from their home during a storm. When a neighbor found the dog and called to police for help, the officer shot the dog and threw its body in a ditch, rather than simply returning it to its owners. 

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PETA thanks Trump for ending Navy experiments on cats and dogs, calls for broader ban

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has thanked the Trump administration for banning Navy-funded experiments on dogs and cats.

On Thursday, PETA wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan, thanking the administration for the new ban and requesting a broader ban on all animal testing in all military branches.

Phelan announced on Tuesday that all Department of the Navy testing on cats and dogs would be banned.

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PETA’s 2024 Pet Slaughter (2,174) Beats NIH’s Beagle Lab (2,133 in 40 Years), But Now They’re Posing as Heroes and Offering to Rehome Lab Survivors

In a move that’s both shameless and predictable, the deceptively named People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is doing the media rounds pretending to be heroes of the NIH beagle lab shutdown, when in reality they weren’t involved and killed more cats and dogs just last year than the now shuttered lab did in 40 years.

The real MVP in saving these animals was the White Coat Waste Project (WCW), a scrappy taxpayer watchdog with about six percent of PETA’s budget. Since 2016, the bipartisan organization has been relentlessly fighting to close down the National Institutes of Health’s cruel dog labs.

As WCW was doing real work, PETA was collecting COVID bailout money and racking up a body count of cats and dogs, which made the NIH’s four-decade death tally look like amateur hour.

The NIH’s beagle lab, a house of horrors where these animals have been subjected to shocking experiments since 1986, was shuttered in May 2025 under the Trump administration’s NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya. Over the last 40 years, 2,133 beagles were tortured and killed by the researchers there.

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