Animal Experimenter in Race for Dubious Distinction of Abusing Animals in Illegal Experiments
For Immediate Release:
May 18, 2011
Contact:
Robbyn Brooks 202-483-7382
Madison, Wis. — In "recognition" of his cruel work that involves tormenting and killed hundreds of sheep—many in violation of state law—University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty member Aleksey Sobakin has been nominated for PETA's May 2011 "Vivisector of the Month" contest. Vivisectors are people who experiment on live animals, and visitors to PETA's blog can vote for Sobakin in a contest to determine the very worst of the worst vivisectors. The "winner" will be announced on May 31 and will receive a prize from PETA to commemorate his cruelty.
"Unfortunately, mad scientists aren't just characters in B-movies," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "Experimenters like Sobakin are all too real—and so is the misery they subject animals to."
Sobakin and his colleagues have spent decades placing hundreds of sheep in a decompression chamber that rapidly reduces air pressure, causing bubbles of nitrogen to form in the animals' brains, blood, and other organs. The animals also suffer crippling joint pain, seizures, nausea, paralysis, vomiting, and burning, deep chest pain. This extremely painful condition, commonly known as "the bends," killed many of the sheep used in these experiments in violation of Wisconsin cruelty-to-animals law. A judge has appointed a special prosecutor to bring charges where appropriate. These experiments stopped only after PETA and Madison-based Alliance for Animals filed a formal complaint in court.
In PETA's contest, Sobakin faces stiff competition from John VandeBerg, director of the Southwest National Primate Research Center, one of the last laboratories in the world that still torments chimpanzees—humans' closest living relatives—in cruel and invasive experiments.
For more information and to cast a vote, please visit PETA.org or click here.
