Five consumer care specialists were interviewed on their personal and professional opinion of Iams' experimentation. Only one person knew of the obese cats incident. She said it was an exaggeration of what had really happened, but would not elaborate. Though given five incidents, each and every Iams employee said that the incidents were false and that their animals receive very good treatment, highly nutritional food, good housing and husbandry, and are socialized and played with everyday. In fact, the dogs are not allowed to socialize, but are kept debarked in small cages and sometimes even without a rest board to let their feet be comfortable from standing on the cage's wire mesh. Would you want to be treated that way? The people I interviewed did however say that they had contracted an independent laboratory to do their research. When Iams gave an unannounced inspection, they found it wasn't up to Iams' "high quality standards," and "severed all ties" with that laboratory. However, when asked where and how that lab could be contacted, I was bluntly told "That's proprietary information, we wouldn't be giving that out." This may raise concerns that their so-called "independent lab" even exists.
What would it be like to be in an Iams laboratory? There would be temperature fluctuations in the extremes, and workers would have to leave the room every so often because the ammonia buildup would make their eyes burn. Dogs would be pacing back and forth from desperate boredom, not even being granted the luxury of a squeaky toy. Others would be lying down on their wooden rest boards if they were lucky enough to have one, too sick to stand. Some labs would be filed with the barks and whines of mistreated animals; others would be utterly silent, having the dogs' vocal chords cut. If your visit were to be unannounced you might even see the dead animals still in their cages, the managers not even caring to remove them until another animal shipment came or until an inspection is due. For those animals, the lab is like a World War Two ghetto, being cleaned up only when the UN comes calling.
Every day animals die through animal experimentation in Iams' laboratories. What Iams has done is inexcusable, and everything should be done to discontinue the company's success. No one has a right to exploit animals for "nutritional research" and kill them as if they were pieces of property.
Every person who learns the truth about Iams should do all they can to educate others and join the national Iams boycott. If you believe that this holocaust should be stopped, save an animal's life and don't buy Iams.
The works cited is on the following page. Click here to see it. |
