UMass is STARVING Dogs—Take Action NOW!
Update (April 7, 2026): After PETA told the Massachusetts Department of Public Health about the horrific conditions in the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School dog laboratory, a whistleblower reports that the university killed all the dogs before state inspectors arrived! 🤬🤬🤬
We’ve filed a complaint with the Massachusetts veterinary licensing board, calling for an investigation and possible disciplinary action against the two remaining veterinarians. But we need your help—according to the whistleblower, UMass Chan recently got four more dogs for its deadly experiments.
The cycle of suffering will keep rolling unless we speak up: Please take action below!
Original post:
Schools and science should go hand in hand, so this university needs to know: Tormenting dogs, pigs, ferrets, rabbits, and rodents ≠ science.
A whistleblower let us know what’s going on in four laboratories at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (UMass Chan). It’ll make your blood boil.
dogs are being starved, pigs are having heart attacks induced, and ferrets are being deprived of oxygen.
lab 1: starving dogs
Experimenters in Matthew Gounis’ laboratory slice open the necks of dogs and mess with their arteries to create fake “aneurysms.” 😰
UMass Chan kennels aren’t allowed to hold dogs larger than 41 pounds. So, do the experimenters build bigger kennels? Nope, they keep dogs hungry to keep their weight down, so many of the dogs have visible ribs and hip bones.
A shy but friendly hound dog swallowed a catheter at one point during her many procedures, but the staff did nothing. ❌ Her weight plummeted from 36 to 29 pounds in just one month.
One young hound was friendly and playful—but experimenters cut into her artery, leaving her with bruising and swelling. Another hound developed a baseball-sized sack of fluid on her leg. Records show that staff gave her no treatment for weeks, even when the lump hardened.
lab 2: killing mice, rats, and rabbits
Shuying Liu’s laboratory injects rabbits, mice, and rats with RNA or DNA vaccines every few weeks. They’re kept alive for up to a year before they’re killed to study the immune system’s response to the vaccines. Wondering how a mouse’s response to a vaccine can predict a response in a human? 🤔 It can’t.
A rabbit was injected with vaccines over and over. Within weeks, she got a severe injury to her hind foot. Her toe got worse and turned black until experimenters amputated it. A month later, the rabbit was killed.
lab 3: infecting ferrets
In Alicia Gruntman’s laboratory, ferrets are injected with a virus and get blood draws from the jugular vein for six months. Experimenters put a scope down the animals’ throats and into the lungs. Some ferrets suffer through this up to 15 times before they’re killed. Several are caged alone in a Plexiglas box and forced to inhale high carbon dioxide or low oxygen levels.
One ferret became uninterested in food. Staff noticed that part of the hammock in her cage was missing and suggested an X-ray to see if she swallowed it. The veterinarian said no, and the ferret got sicker. Finally, X-rays showed something was there, but staff botched the euthanasia (ofc). It took eight minutes for the ferret to die.
lab 4: giving heart attacks to pigs
D. Kevin Donahue’s laboratory causes heart attacks in 3- to 6-month-old pigs and rabbits.
One pig who was given a heart attack got a painful ear injury from having his blood flow messed up. Another had part of his ear removed after severe bruising, and soon, the entire wound was black. He shook his head when touched, which shows that he must be in serious pain. 😢
what you can do
We can’t stay silent. We can’t let this keep happening. Plz urge UMass to stop tormenting animals and switch to human-relevant, non-animal research methods TODAY!
