March for the Kitten Who Couldn’t

Kittens being raised for use in experiments.

Tucked away in a little-read inspection report is the story of a kitten whose tail was chewed down to the bone.

The male kitten was noted as having a serious injury to his tail on March 26, 2023, when he was still with his mom and siblings in a cage at Marshall BioResources. But instead of keeping him with his mom, Marshall threw the frightened boy into an enclosure with other male cats. Records at the facility noted that the other animals quickly converged on the injured kitten and left his injured tail “chewed to the bone.” With his mother gone, and metal walls trapping him in the enclosure, he had no way to protect himself or escape. Marshall killed him on the same day. A mutilated and traumatized cat would have no value in experiments.

Join me and hundreds of other activists in marching against animal experiments starting on September 12. The signup form is here.

We value our freedoms greatly in this nation. The freedom to speak. To worship. To pursue happiness. But the freedom to move is perhaps the one we neglect the most. It’s so basic it’s hard to imagine life without it. Without that freedom, we can’t find food, seek safer shelter, or even escape from those who might hurt us. And yet freedom of movement is just one of the many that the animals of Marshall are denied. In the case of this small kitten, that led to a violent death. In the case of so many others, including 16,000 beagles, it leads at best to a life hardly worth living. Life in a laboratory cage.

It’s for that reason that the March to Abolish Animal Testing feels so poignant. Hundreds of people, including me, will exercise their freedom to take a 200 mile trek from the state capital in Albany to the doorstep of Marshall starting on September 12. One thousand are anticipated to rally on the last day of the march at the gates of the very company where that kitten died. And we will exercise their freedom to move because the animals can’t. We will ask the authorities: How can you justify letting kittens and puppies be brutalized?

The authorities, needless to say, would rather ignore all of this. Marshall is one of the largest employers in the county. As a multinational corporation with facilities in Asia and Europe, as well as the US, its influence is global. Elected figures in the state of New York, and in the local county, have been beholden to its power. Especially in Wayne County, the small county in which Marshall is located, that remains the case. Recent news articles include quotes from Sheriff and House representative defending Marshall and threatening advocates with criminal charges.

And yet something is changing.

For the first time in history, Congress members, even in the area, are speaking out. House Rep. Nick Langworthy showed up at the doorstep of Marshall himself a few weeks ago, only to get the same response that animal advocates get: a call to security.

Social media posts about Marshall are going viral. A typical protest for animal rights, even dogs, is lucky to get a few thousand views. The protests of Marshall and its buyers are often getting millions.

But something else is stirring that shows Marshall’s power is weakening. The people are acting. It’s not just a few politicians or influencers on social media. It’s everyone. Demonstrations at Marshall, a remote region of New York, are getting larger every year. Media coverage is growing, and more positive. The March from Albany to Marshall will be a way to harness that sympathy into something concrete: 1000 people standing outside the gates asking for the animals to be freed.

There will be much more said and written about this effort. There are powerful parallels to marches from history, from Selma to the Salt March. But for now, I just want to invite you to join us. I will be there on the first day, asking the Attorney General and Governor of New York to enforce the law and protect the dogs. We don’t know how they will respond, but we know we are on the right side of history.

And as more people join our march to freedom, it will become obvious to everyone that this is the case—and the animals at Marshall will be freed.

I hope you’ll join us in Albany on September 12.

—-

Other Stuff

• Our strategy to save the dogs is pivoting—and we’ll be talking about it at a call on Sunday at 3 pm ET / 12 pm PT. We’ll discuss two promising new developments that could change the timeline of our rescue effort. RSVP here.

• Don’t forget to log in to our activist portal and contact your Congress members about the USDA’s inaction at Marshall. The link is app.savethedogs.io, and it will give you easy instructions on how you can help.

• The right to rescue summit is moving forward on the weekend of September 5. The exact schedule will be worked out soon. Stay tuned!

That’s all for now!