HARRISBURG – Legislation is being introduced to end taxpayer-funded painful experimentation on dogs and cats in PA. Bill sponsor, Sen. Doug Mastriano of Adams & Franklin Counties said, “Animal cruelty is prohibited in the Bible and should be prohibited in our state. Proverbs 12:10 says, ‘The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel.” Senate Bill 658 would prevent institutions from using state funds to support painful experimentation on dogs and cats as defined by the USDA. Over 3,000 dogs and more than 1,000 cats currently are subjected to cruel testing at universities and labs across PA. A lab failing to comply would lose its eligibility to receive state funding for one year. It also would require institutions that receive state funding for dog and cat tests to disclose the amount of state funding received, the amount of federal and private funding received, and indicate that “funding for these experiments was provided with PA taxpayer dollars.” It also would make healthy dogs and cats used in experimentation available for adoption when they no longer are needed for testing.
SEN. DOUG MASTRIANO