Operation Owl Rescue- PETA Takes on Johns Hopkins University Experimenters in Groundbreaking Lawsuit

Pioneering animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) files a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Administrator Kevin Shea alleging unconstitutional, taxpayer-funded experiments at a laboratory in Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The defendants have apparently been lax at ensuring proper enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). 

According to the 2002 Helms Amendment to the AWA, birds, rats, and mice used in experiments are exempt from bare minimal protections afforded to other species. The invasive brain experiments conducted on these owls would therefore entail a painful death. However, PETA’s lawsuit points out that The U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibits congressionally imposed death sentences via the Bill of Attainder Clause. Therefore, the gruesome experimental procedures that induce alarming damage to the owls’ brains are in and of themselves an unconstitutional death sentence to these majestic birds of prey.

It’s not just PETA stepping up for the owls! Harry Potter star- Evanna Lynch, former Maryland State Secretary of Health- Dr. Martin Wasserman, and animal rights and climate justice activist, and JHU student- Lana Weidgenant have joined the powerful coalition. Together, the team has participated in years of advocacy for these owls and is represented by Bernard DiMuro and Jonathan Mook of DiMuroGinsberg PC as well as the PETA Foundation litigators.

PETA and the plaintiffs are asking for the Helms Amendment to be abolished and for the federal government to require rigorous inspections and humane treatment of the owls in JHU’s laboratory—and of the millions of animals who don’t receive fundamental protections in laboratories across the country.

PETA’s Litigation Manager Asher Smith states- “Owls are being cruelly confined, tortured, and killed in a laboratory at Johns Hopkins with no federal oversight or protection because of an unconstitutional loophole to the federal Animal Welfare Act,” “PETA’s lawsuit seeks to prevent these living, breathing individuals from being denied the same basic rights afforded to others, including even inanimate corporations.” he adds.

In honor of World Week for Animals in Laboratories (observed this year on April 18-24, 2021), and to dismantle the speciesist views that subject animals to unimaginable exploitation, we encourage our followers to take action and support PETA’s efforts to liberate these sentient, magnificent birds. 

Image Sources: PETA, Evanna Lynch