Mission: Help Save Marmosets From UW-Madison’s Nightmarish Experiment

Posted by Calvin on July 02, 2024

Update (June 26, 2024): Victory! Following actions from PETA and thousands of supporters like you, a pointless sleep experiment on marmoset monkeys at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has been shut down. In the nightmarish test coordinated by University of Massachusetts–Amherst experimenter Agnès Lacreuse (in whose laboratory the test was originally slated to take place), University of Wisconsin–Madison experimenters planned to repeatedly blast as many as a dozen monkeys with sounds as loud as a lawn mower to prevent them from sleeping for up to 24 nights. This procedure is cruel enough to earn the highest pain classification possible. Records show that six monkeys were ultimately used in the test before it was stopped after one night of torment.

We couldn’t have achieved this win without your powerful voice. Please use your sway to save more marmosets from Lacreuse’s cruelty by urging the University of Massachusetts–Amherst to shut down her laboratory at the school immediately:

Original post:

URGENT: Any minute now, experimenters at the University of Wisconsin–Madison could start depriving tiny marmoset monkeys of sleep. 😱🐒 We need your help to stop this cruelty ASAP! 🚨

The experimenters plan to blast marmosets with sounds as loud as a lawn mower on and off—all night long—for three nights a week for up to two months. 😨 If you think this plan would be unbearably painful for the monkeys, you’re right—the experiment earned the highest pain classification possible. 😭

PETA has urged the feds to stop funding this experiment, and we’ve also filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, it looks like this cruel test is gonna start anyway—unless we join forces to save the marmosets. 🤝💪

The Details

Experimenters plan to blast the monkeys with loud noises for six full minutes every 15 minutes during the night—startling them awake up to 46 times overnight for three consecutive nights. 😰 Read all the deets here.

Besides causing the marmosets extreme pain, the experiment wouldn’t add anything to humans’ knowledge of the effects of sleep deprivation. 🤨 Several studies have already investigated sleep deprivation in humans, and none of them used monkeys—only human volunteers. 💁

Who’s Allowing This?

The National Institute on Aging funded the marmoset experiment two years ago when it was slated to take place in the laboratory of notorious University of Massachusetts–Amherst experimenter Agnès Lacreuse. 😒 It’s been on hold, but now it’s about to start unless we can stop it. 🛑

Ricki Colman is the UW-Madison experimenter in charge of this horror show. Conveniently for her, she’s also the head of the university animal oversight committee that voted to approve the project (and prob violated federal regulations doing so). 🤦