Animal Partisan

In April 2024, we sued the University of Michigan after it refused to release video recordings taken as part of a study into antidepressant drugs. The videos depict mice subject to the “forced swim test”, an experiment that involves placing mice in containers of water with no chance of escape and forcing them to swim for their lives out of desperation. The University of Michigan doesn’t want the public to see these cruel experiments and claims they are proprietary and trade secrets. We will be in court in Michigan in January 2025 arguing that the public has a right to see these videos. Thanks to?Ashton Gallagher-Train for representing us pro bono on this matter.?#endvivisection?#endanimaltesting?#publicrecords?#foia?(Drawing made with AI)

Our exposure of the FBI's attempts to use criminal weapons of mass destruction statutes against animal rights activists continues to receive media coverage as Ambrook just published a comprehensive story with input from Delcianna Winders, whose Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic successfully litigated the case alongside Sorenson Law.

The FBI's oppression of animal rights activists made news overseas as a major Italian news source covered our Freedom of Information Act litigation victory.

On September 6, 2024, we were in a Colorado courtroom seeking justice for a lamb abused at slaughter. The hearing involved an animal cruelty complaint filed alongside Animal Equality with legal representation by the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project. Standing in the way of justice was the local prosecutor who had his own ideas about how the law should treat animals.

One of Animal Partisan’s core focus areas is advancing the field of animal law to develop future attorneys capable of defending the interests of animals in the legal system. This fall, we have partnered with pro bono programs at 5 separate law schools. Across these schools, 28 individual law students and future attorneys are assisting Animal Partisan in exploring legal actions for animals and building passion and knowledge they will hopefully carry throughout their careers.

Our lawsuit victory against the FBI over its attempt to use weapons of mass destruction statutes against animal rights activists was covered by the Intercept. Thanks to Animal Law and Policy Institute at VLGS and Sorenson Law for their tireless work litigating this case.

In late 2022, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) placed a primate in a restraint chair for an experiment then forgot about the animal and went home for the night. The primate was restrained and forgotten for nearly 19 hours until MIT finally noticed the animal was missing from their cage. When Animal Partisan sought records from the City of Cambridge (MA) which is supposed to provide oversight of research facilities in the city, such as MIT, it refused to provide many of them, citing post-9/11 exemptions that allow a government body to withhold materials that “terrorists would find useful to maximize damage.” Following an appeal by our Legal Fellow, Nathaniel Edelheit-Rice, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ruled that the City of Cambridge had violated the public records law and ordered it to produce the records or provide a lawful justification for withholding them. Research facilities like MIT should not be allowed to keep animal mistreatment in the shadows. We continue exploring legal action against the school and researcher involved in this troubling incident.

In our latest collaboration with Rise for Animals, we expose cruel forced addiction and withdrawal experiments conducted on mice at the University of Connecticut. See the blog below from Rise for Animals highlighting the wasteful and cruel nature of these experiments.

Animal research facilities want the public kept in the dark about the treatment of millions of animals used in experimentation. Animal Partisan is part of a legislative task force in Virginia focused on improving transparency on the numbers and treatment of animals used in research in the Commonwealth.

Animal Partisan recently obtained records from a study conducted by Ohio State University into the "depopulation" of pigs using water based foam. In the study, researchers led pigs to a specially outfitted trailer that was subsequently filled with foam. While the pigs struggled and fought for their lives to escape, researchers gathered outside and waited for the animals to be killed, a process that often took several agonizing minutes. Several photos show researchers smiling proudly for the camera just outside the trailer where the pigs suffered and died.