USA Today | Stop using dogs in medical testing for VA

By Dr. Robin Ganzert, President and CEO, American Humane

Dogs have been not only our best friends since time immemorial, but also the best friends of America’s fighting men and women, serving alongside them in combat and healing the invisible wounds of war when they return home. So it is doubly shocking to read that invasive and lethal research is still being conducted on dogs by the Department of Veterans Affairs in spite of overwhelming objections by humane organizations and animal lovers, and even a federal law enacted last year to prevent such a travesty — as explained in USA TODAY’s article “Fatal experiments on dogs are happening at the VA.”

VA officials say their experiments are ethical and could lead to discoveries that might help veterans, but the last such studies they cite on the department’s website date back more than a half-century.

Thankfully, the VA inspector general is looking into this fiasco. We’re urging the inspector general, Congress and the public to send a loud message to the VA that this is no way to treat mankind’s — and our warriors’ — best friends.