GIVE THEM BACK: A Second Chance f o r L a b A n i m als Wo r d s by D e v i n M u r p hy @ wh i t e c o a t wa s t e
Devin Murphy is Public Policy and Communications Manager at White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit focused on ending taxpayer-funded animal experiments with over three million members nationwide.
G
etting through the pandemic was challenging — but the unconditional love of an animal made it a little easier. Shelters were cleared nationwide as millions of Americans adopted pandemic pets; soft purrs and wagging tails ser ved as emotional life preser vers during COVID-19’s darkest days. Even animals who had been in shelters for months found homes. It was heartwarming to see, because no animal should die alone and unloved. Sadly, thousands of animals have no other choice. They are the forgotten ones, never appearing in shelters, or on adoption websites. They will never know the warmth
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of a hug, or the feeling of grass beneath their feet, and most will never be adopted — not because they’ve unlovable or bad, but because of bureaucracy. These are the animals that kindness forgot, born to suffer and bred to die: lab animals. It doesn’t have to be this way. Our organization, White Coat Waste Project (WCW), is dedicated to exposing and ending $20 billion in wasteful government spending on animal experiments and getting as many dogs, cats, bunnies and other animals out of government labs as possible. When the money stops, the killing stops.
