The Online Newspaper of Lakewood High School

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    Cleveland VA is Testing on Dogs

    Cleveland VA is Testing on Dogs

    The Cleveland VA Medical Center has been experimenting and testing on dogs and they have no plan of stopping. The Center received a new shipment of dogs to their facilities on Thursday. While the organization has a noble mission of trying to help Veterans, many are questioning the methods they are using to achieve their goal.

    According to a spokesperson from the Cleveland VA, they are trying to help veterans with spinal cord injuries, ALS or stroke to be able to effectively cough. Many of those suffering from said disabilities die from respiratory infections that could be prevented if they were capable of coughing.

    The VA claims they only allow dogs to be used for testing and experimentation when other methods can not provide the information needed to help the suffering veterans. The dogs are purchased from a Class A USDA dealer that breeds the dogs specifically for experimentation.

    Many animal advocates are protesting and working hard to shed light on the experimentation that can often be deadly for the dogs used. Sharon Harvey, the CEO of the Cleveland APL, told reporters, “There’s a national advocacy group that got in touch with us and indicated that our local VA was conducting painful experiments on dogs; which involved planting electrodes in their spinal cord, conducting research and then killing them.”

    Harvey is encouraging those who disagree with the experimentation to call their representatives and voice support for H.R. 3197, which is a bill that was introduced to Congress in July of 2017.

    High School Student, Tayt Armitage, is disgusted by this practice. He said, “Animals feel pain like the rest of us. Their lives are just as important as ours and they deserve to live happy lives, not to be tested on for our benefit.”

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