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Paul McCartney asked a Texas university to stop testing on dogs
By Scottie Andrew and Saeed Ahmed, CNN
June 27, 2019
Paul McCartney asked Texas A&M University to halt muscular dystrophy research that purportedly uses dogs as test subjects
(CNN) - Noted animal rights activist Paul McCartney implored a Texas university to end its purported use of dogs as laboratory test subjects.
In a letter published by PETA, McCartney asked Texas A&M University President Michael Young to halt muscular dystrophy research with golden retrievers and release them for adoption.
His plea comes after PETA published footage that purportedly showed golden retrievers at a university lab. The dogs, PETA said, were bred with the canine muscular dystrophy gene and held in metal cells.
McCartney called the video "heartbreaking" and chastised Young for "allowing this cruelty."
"I have had dogs since I was a boy and loved them all dearly, including Martha, who was my companion for about 15 years and about whom I wrote the song 'Martha My Dear.'"
Texas A&M University spokesperson Kelly Brown said the school was unable to comment because of pending lawsuits PETA has filed against it.
There's currently not a cure for muscular dystrophy, the Mayo Clinic said.
McCartney, a long-time vegetarian, has partnered with PETA before to protest animal testing and meat production, which studies have shown contributes to climate change.
In 2009, he founded Meat Free Monday, a nonprofit that encourages people to replace meat with at least one plant-based meal a week, with daughters Mary and Stella.
www.peta.org
Sir Paul McCartney Seeks ‘Help!’ for Dogs at Texas A&M
Rock Icon Urges University to Close Canine Muscular Dystrophy Laboratory
For Immediate Release:
June 26, 2019
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
College Station, Texas – Hot on the heels of his tour stop in Texas, Sir Paul McCartney is urging Texas A&M University (TAMU) President Michael K. Young to end TAMU’s muscular dystrophy experiments on dogs, for which golden retrievers are deliberately bred to have a crippling form of muscular dystrophy that leaves them struggling to walk, swallow, and even breathe. PETA has released video footage taken inside the laboratory and, along with muscular dystrophy patients, has pointed out that nearly 40 years of these experiments haven’t yielded a treatment that reverses symptoms of the disease.
“The video footage of golden retrievers in your university’s dog laboratory is heartbreaking,” writes McCartney in a letter sent today. “I have had dogs since I was a boy and loved them all dearly, including Martha, who was my companion for about 15 years and about whom I wrote the song ‘Martha My Dear.’ Please do the right thing by ending the suffering of dogs in TAMU’s muscular dystrophy laboratory and switching to modern research methods instead.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—is opposed to speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
McCartney’s letter to Young follows.
Michael K Young
President
Texas A&M University
President
Texas A&M University
June 26, 2019
Dear President Young,
When I was on tour in Texas this month, I was shocked to learn about muscular dystrophy experiments on dogs at TAMU’s campus. I appeal to you to stop allowing this cruelty and to release the animals for adoption into loving homes. My friends at PETA are standing by to help.
The video footage of golden retrievers in your university’s dog laboratory is heartbreaking. I have had dogs since I was a boy and loved them all dearly, including Martha, who was my companion for about 15 years and about whom I wrote the song “Martha My Dear”.
Please do the right thing by ending the suffering of dogs in TAMU’s muscular dystrophy laboratory and switching to modern research methods instead.
Sincerely,
Sir Paul McCartney
