PETA Global 2019 Issue 4

I Survived Sepsis. And Killing Mice Didn’t Help. Mouse: © iStock.com/JoeZellner

Sock it to me! Get fab footwear like Fred’s at PETA.org/Store . I

Torn paper border: © iStock.com/yasinguneysu

Fred Willard Joins PETA’s ♥ for Fish Campaign Bowls are for soup, not for living, feeling beings to live in. Yet that’s where many betta fish in the pet trade end up.

In the interim, they’re shipped from faraway lands in cramped plastic bags, and those who survive the journey are stuck in little plastic cups and simply stacked on shelves in pet stores until they sell or die. A PETA exposé of more than 100 Petco stores in the US revealed dead and dying fish floating in contaminated water and others suffering from painful health conditions without any treatment.

By Christina Matthies, Managing Editor

S ix months ago, I was lying in a hospital bed, wondering if I’d be around to see another issue of PETA Global go to print. This was my third case of sepsis in less than two months, each one more serious than the last. It had begun with an outpatient procedure and ended with an operation to remove multiple abdominal abscesses. What is sepsis? In a word, hell. It’s a dangerous complication of infection that can lead to organ failure. In the US alone, severe sepsis strikes more than 1 million people a year and can be fatal in up to 30% of cases. The risk of dying increases to more than 50% if the site of original infection is in the gut. I have Crohn’s disease, so I’m no stranger to the body-racking chills, acute fever, and crushing pain that define sepsis. In fact, the fifth time I was in the emergency room, I managed to joke that I deserved frequent flyer miles, but the grim-faced resident didn’t laugh. Instead, he pushed the button to take my blood pressure for the 10 th time in as many minutes and said, “If you had come in any later, I don’t think we could have turned this around.” Later, when I was told that my kidneys showed signs of failure and that I might need dialysis – or worse, a transplant – I couldn’t keep a lid on my anger. It boiled over when I was waiting to be wheeled in for surgery and my daughter and husband overheard two surgeons talking about a patient with sepsis who had just died on the operating table. And I was next. Then, as now, I knew how much valuable time and money are wasted conducting failed sepsis experiments on mice. Experimenters cut open the abdomens of these sensitive animals who want the same things that we do: to live without fear and pain.

Who thinks about their feelings? Actor Fred Willard wants to know.

Their intestines are punctured so that fecal matter will leak out. Before dying, they endure fever, chills, difficulty breathing, disorientation, and organ failure – but to what end? The fact is that the results of sepsis experiments in mice don’t reliably apply to humans. In 2013, scientists realized that it’s not even the same condition in mice, and that’s why thousands of such experiments have not helped advance treatments for patients like me. Even Dr. Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), lamented all the time and resources spent developing 150 drugs that successfully treated sepsis in mice but failed in human clinical trials. He called this disaster “a heartbreaking loss of decades of research and billions of dollars.” I agree. Following a PETA exposé, NIH withheld funding from a University of Pittsburgh experimenter who was conducting crude sepsis tests on mice. But the US government continues to divert $95 million into similar experiments instead of channeling the funds into useful measures – like educating the public and supporting cell-culture models, synthetic human models, and other superior, non-animal research. Patients describe sepsis as feeling as if they’re dying – and many do. I can relate. I’ve held onto the sides of my hospital bed and told myself not to go to sleep but to fight. And I did – not just for myself but for all.

Brave Chrissy relaxes at home with Skippy after beating yet another bout of sepsis.

“I feel lonely,” he laments to a therapist in a poignant PETA video. As the camera pans out, you see that he’s trapped like a fish in a bowl. “Everyone acts like I’m OK, but I’m not. I’m starting to think they just don’t care.” PETA hopes Willard’s video portrayal of fish will help people understand that bettas are not decorations. “Fish should be left in their natural habitat,” he says. For betta fish, that usually means marshes or rice fields in Thailand. Many people “don’t really know how to take care of them. They just toss them in a little bowl at home and drop some food in and forget about them.” If you or someone you know already has betta fish, they each need a minimum of 10 gallons (38 liters) of filtered, temperature-controlled water. And they don’t have to live in isolation – female bettas can get along, and a male can live with other species of fish. They prefer hiding amid plants and in nooks but are often given no environmental enrichment at all when kept in solitary confinement in a minuscule bowl. Take Action Now Let bettas be! Watch and share Willard’s video at PETA.org/LonelyBetta . Never buy fish (or any other animal), and please raise awareness whenever

you see fish living in cramped, barren bowls, cups, or other enclosures.

Ants create underground gardens, chickens can count, sheep recognize faces from photographs, and albatrosses circumnavigate the globe. You’ll learn about these and many other feats, including the most important one of all – saving animals’ lives – in Ingrid Newkirk’s new book, Animalkind , available in stores January 7. Preorder your copy today at PETA.org/Store . “This book makes the spot-on case that the future of laboratory research will not be based on four legged or tail-wagging models, but rather on sophisticated, human-relevant and high-tech animal-free testing methods.” – John Pawlowski, M.D., Ph.D., Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard

Take Action Now If you suspect that you or a loved one has sepsis, rush to the emergency room.

Getting treatment quickly is critical. Help PETA stop useless sepsis experiments on animals by visiting PETA.org/Sepsis .

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