To Whom It May Concern:

I have come across some information that has greatly disturbed me. It is information that has disturbed me because of my love for animals, and especially dogs. Because this information is disturbing, I feel it is my place to inform you of this terrible thing that is happening here in our own free country of America.

This information concerns a certain company known as Iams. For nearly 10 months in 2002 and early 2003, a PETA investigator went undercover at an Iams contract testing laboratory and discovered a dark and sordid secret beneath the wholesome image of the dog- and cat-food manufacturer: dogs gone crazy from intense confinement to barren steel cages and cement cells, dogs left piled on a filthy paint-chipped floor after having chunks of muscle hacked from their thighs; dogs surgically debarked; horribly sick dogs and cats languishing in their cages, neglected and left to suffer with no veterinary care.

Iams lied to PETA with promises to improve the conditions for animals in its contract laboratories, even assuring us that enrichment programs were already in place, but the undercover investigator saw otherwise. She fought for six months to have a single cheap, rubber toy placed in each cold, lonely kennel. This is Iams’ idea of enrichment.

Video footage shows Iams representatives touring the facility and witnessing dogs’ endless circling in barren cells, sweltering in the summer heat. Iams knew the truth yet did nothing to protect the animals. The dogs and cats in Iams’ tests are no different from our dogs and cats at home when it comes to deserving companionship, play, a stimulating environment, and the right not to be tormented in painful experiments.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released an official complaint stating that the contract laboratory investigated by PETA in 2002 and 2003, which was employed by pet-food manufacturer Iams, “has shown a lack of good faith.” The government complaint alleges that the following violations, among others, were documented by government inspectors at the contract laboratory from 2002 to 2005:
•
Failure to provide pain relief to sheep used in experiments that caused pain or distress
•
Failure to ensure that personnel were trained to perform experiments on animals
•
Failure to provide veterinary care and to observe animals daily
•
Failure to properly ventilate housing facilities for dogs and cats
•
Failure to house cats with a sufficient number of litter boxes and resting surfaces
•
Failure to keep animal-housing facilities clean and in good repair, resulting in injuries
•
Failure to maintain comfortable temperatures in animal-housing facilities
•
Failure to provide animals with sufficient space
I have stated my worries and concerns in this short letter. Please if you have the opportunity, please send Iams a letter. If we fight this together, we can prevail!
Sincerely yours,
Hannah J.