The USDA says it’s officially ending a controversial experiment that involves kittens. As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, Oregon lawmakers and animal welfare advocates are delighted.
For decades, a lab in Maryland has bred up to 100 kittens a year, feeding them meat containing parasites. After harvesting the parasite’s eggs from their feces, the kittens were destroyed despite being treatable for the parasite.
Oregon U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley was a lead sponsor of the so-called KITTEN Act (Kittens In Traumatic Testing Ends Now), that would end the experiments. In a statement, Merkley says the USDA has made the right call in ending the “archaic practice.”
![](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e59c7bb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x1064+0+0/resize/880x585!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fklcc%2Ffiles%2F201904%2FFlickr_AlexRanaldi.jpg)
Cary Lieberman, Executive Director of the Greenhill Humane Society in Eugene, also applauds the news.
“Animal life should be respected," Liberman tells KLCC. "There’s not necessarily a move right now to end testing on live animals but if there’s a possibility of healing and treating the animals, and then adopting them into loving homes afterwards, those opportunities should be taken.”
Congress estimates $650,000 in taxpayer money has funded the USDA experiments since 1970.
Copyright 2019, KLCC.