Public records reveal that staff at Wayne State University cut open the chests of dogs, insert devices, and tunnel cables and wires under the animals' skin and out between their shoulder blades. The dogs who survive the intensive surgeries are forced to run on treadmills while experimenters drastically raise their heart rates using implanted devices. This is repeated for days, weeks, or even months—depending on how long each dog can withstand it. By design, every dog will eventually die during the experiments—when their bodies give out or an implanted device breaks or malfunctions.
Many dogs die due to severe internal bleeding, which causes blood to pool around their lungs, making it hard to breathe. Some dogs are found dead in their cages.
Wayne State has wasted more than $15 million in public money on these heart failure experiments since 1991 without providing any benefit to patients. After more than three decades, the university claims the experiments show "potential"—but there is no evidence of progress. Meanwhile, Wayne State has killed hundreds of dogs.
Sign the petition to demand that Wayne State end these painful, deadly, and unnecessary dog experiments.
Subject: Please end Wayne State's deadly, unproductive dog experiments
Dear President Espy, Dean Sakr, Dr. O'Leary, and Dr. Dunbar,
I urge you to end the heart failure and hypertension experiments on dogs at Wayne State, which have been conducted since 1991 without producing any benefits to patients.
The dogs used in the experiments endure multiple surgeries in which Wayne State employees cut open the animals' chest cavities, insert devices in and around major blood vessels, stab catheters into their hearts, and "tunnel" cables and wires under their skin and out between the dogs' shoulder blades.
Public records reveal that many dogs have been killed when the implanted devices cause severe internal bleeding. Some dogs have struggled to breathe when blood collects around their lungs. Other dogs simply collapse in their cages, where they are found dead.
After more than three decades, Wayne State continues to claim the experiments show "potential"—not results. Public institutions like yours should conduct research that benefits patients. You owe it to the people of Michigan.
Please end the dog experiments.
Sincerely,
[Name]
