Image Analysis

The cat in the picture above was named Double Trouble.  She was part of the animal testing and research program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.  One can tell that she has had multiple procedures performed on her and she does not look happy.  She looks sad.  Her right eye appears to droop for some reason.  She has obviously had holes drilled in her skull and then some screws attached to the steel posts. Her ears have some sort of electrodes or electrical devices in them.  It appears that her head also has some sort of electrical device that is attached to her brain.  The feature story that I read called “Cats Tormented and Killed in University Lab” said that Double Trouble also had steel coil implants in her eyes.  A former UW–Madison veterinarian confirmed that the researchers documented and took pictures of the different procedures that were done.  Double Trouble’s documentation showed that the research team would make her go days without food.  They would dangle food in front of the cat in order to have her cooperate with them to perform the experiments.  It doesn’t look like the cat is kept in a cage, according to this picture, and is free to roam.  I am assuming that the cat would have exposed or open areas and therefore those could be possible entry points for germs to enter, and for bacteria and infection to develop. It turns out that Double Trouble did get an infection in her head.  The researchers determined that this experiment was a failure and therefore killed and decapitated the cat and then later examined her brain.   In choosing this picture, I hope that people will see that animals are undergoing extreme testing in order to gain more knowledge.  When the experiments do not go according to the researcher’s plan, animals are just being tossed away, in parts.  Is this really an ethical way to learn and gain knowledge?

Works Cited

“Cats Tormented and Killed in University Lab”
http://www.peta.org/features/uw-madison-cruelty/photos.aspx