Congressman Exposes ‘Secretive’ USDA Experiments that are Incinerating Hundreds of Kittens

By Matt Agorist

 Prince George’s County, MD — Rep. Mike Bishop, a Republican  representing Michigan’s 8th District, is exposing a program that he  calls “secretive and problematic” within the U.S. Department of  Agriculture in which hundreds of kittens are being incinerated in  Maryland. 

According to the USDA, the breeding and subsequent mass killing of  kittens is essential to understanding and combating a dangerous  parasite. However, citing inhumane procedures and wasted taxpayer funds,  Bishop has called for an official investigation into the program. 

On Tuesday, Bishop sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue citing his and other’s concerns on how the kitten are being used in the program. As WTOP reports, according to the letter, Bishop says that his office  reviewed documents about a research project on toxoplasmosis conducted  at the USDA’s Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville,  Maryland. 

The secret experiments were brought to light after a Freedom of  Information Act request was filed by the anti-animal research group White Coat Waste Project. 

According to Bishop, the experiments involve breeding hundreds of  kittens, feeding them parasite infected raw meet for several weeks and  then burning them. The kittens are essentially test tubes as they are  only bred so that their feces can be used in later experiments. 

“I’m shocked and disturbed that for decades the USDA — the very  organization charged with enforcing animal welfare laws — has been  unnecessarily killing hundreds of kittens in expensive and inefficient  lab experiments,” Bishop said in a statement. 

“Any government research program like this one that’s been funded  since the Nixon administration needs to be put under the microscope,  especially when it involves using kittens as disposable test tubes in  harmful tests that most taxpayers oppose.” 

According to Bishop, the USDA protocol indicates that the cats who  are fed the infected meat do not become sick.

Bishop’s letter demands to  know the cost to the taxpayer, the precise number of kittens used, pain  reporting to see how bad the kittens are suffering, and alternatives to  using kittens and possible adoption procedures. “It appears that this project uses kittens as test tubes,” Bishop wrote. “Put simply, it creates life to destroy life.  

While I support the objective of making food safer and protecting  people and animals from infectious diseases, we must ensure taxpayer  dollars are used effectively, efficiently, and humanely.” After receiving the letter on Tuesday, Kim Kaplan of the USDA  responded by claiming that the use of cats is “essential to the success  of this critical research,” and that “the estimate of 100 cats used in  the research … is a serious overestimation.” 

Kaplan also explained that the cats cannot be adopted out because  even though they may not be infected they still pose a risk to others  through their fecal matter. 

However, expert authorities–including the American Veterinary Medical  Association, the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges  and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–agree that the  Toxoplasma-exposed cats are safe and adoptable because after just one  Toxoplasma exposure, cats shed the parasite, become immune and won’t  transmit to humans or other animals, according to the White Coat Waste  Project. 

As to why they use kittens, the USDA explained, “only cats are found  to excrete the environmentally resistant stage of the parasite.” In regard to the incineration of kittens, cost to taxpayers, and pain  reporting, however, the USDA chose to remain silent, only stating  that the lab “complies with best management practices in animal  research.” 

Naturally, no one wants to ingest harmful parasites and get sick and  the research likely provides some benefit in this regard. However, the  length of time that it has been going on indicates that the research is  either ineffective or the program is merely trying to justify its  funding by continuing experiments. 

According to Bishop, the research has been ongoing at the USDA since  1982, and at 100 kittens a year, the death toll is staggering. As the WCWP points out, these deadly, decades-old taxpayer-funded  kitten experiments also continue despite criticism from veterinary  experts who call the kitten model “difficult and expensive,” say it  raises “ethical concerns,” and are advocating for development on in  vitro models. 

If this was a private corporation doing this exact same thing, the  USDA would likely be stepping in to stop it. However, because they are  the government, they can do as they wish. 

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