Bill Maher Calls Out UW-Madison's Cruel Experiments on Cats—Literally

Bill Maher has given the University
of Wisconsin–Madison (UW) a wake-up call—literally. The host of HBO’s Real Time recorded a message on PETA’s behalf that was auto-dialed today to tens of thousands of
UW students, staff, and faculty, as well as to UW’s Board of Regents and residents
living near the school’s campus. 

“On
this very campus, dozens of live cats have holes drilled into their skulls,
steel posts screwed to their heads, and metal coils implanted in their eyes,”
Maher said. “Some cats have had their ears cut off. Others are
intentionally deafened. … It strikes me that it’s not the cats who need their
heads examined …. I’m calling on you to join me in helping to end this abuse.”

Prompted by a PETA complaint, a National Institutes
of Health (NIH) report released just last
week confirmed PETA’s allegations that UW failed to take adequate steps to
avoid the cats’ infected, open head wounds and to treat them and that UW’s
justification for the use of cats and the number of cats used was inadequate. NIH
took the exceptionally rare step of ordering UW to suspend the experiments for
nearly six months while major changes were implemented. The NIH findings echo a
separate report
released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February, also prompted by a
PETA complaint, which found rampant infections among the cats used in these
experiments. Some infections were so severe that they resulted in the removal
of one cat’s eye and the euthanasia of several cats.

What You Can Do

Please join Bill Maher in urging
UW to put an immediate, permanent halt to these cruel experiments.