Johns Hopkins ‘Years’ of Illegal Owl Experiments: State Confirms PETA Advice

State officials say the owl torture lab may be closed if violations continue; PETA Calls on Fed to Return Irrational Taxpayer Funds

For immediate release:
May 11, 2021

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Baltimore – In response to a formal complaint from PETA, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has just confirmed that Johns Hopkins University (JHU) experimenter Shrish Mysore has been illegally conducting gruesome and deadly experiments on owl brains without mandatory authorization for “years” – throughout apparently from 2015 to 2018, according to public figures obtained by PETA.

DNR tells PETA that the agency sent a letter to Mysore warning it to “renew the permit annually” and that “working on an invalid permit is a violation [Maryland state law] and enforcement and foreclosure of the research project are possible. ” And because the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires all grant recipients to comply with all laws and regulations, PETA is now calling on the NIH to reimburse some of the $ 1,969,546 taxpayer money that Mysore illegally spent on these experiments. …

“Johns Hopkins ran an illegal owl torture laboratory for years,” says PETA vice president Shalin Gala. “PETA is calling on federal authorities to deprive experimenter Shrish Mysore of taxpayer funds and prevent him from maiming and killing other protected birds.”

In his experiments, Mysore cuts out the skulls of barn owls, implants electrodes into their brains, forces birds to be placed in plastic tubes or jackets so tight that they cannot move their wings, holds their eyes open and bombards them with sounds and light for up to 12 hours. In the end, the owls are killed.

Mysore intends to conduct experiments on owls to investigate attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder in humans, despite differences in hearing and vision between species. The NIH reported that Mysore’s animal projects have a shockingly grim 5% “approximate potential for use” in human health – meaning its published articles are unlikely to be cited in later clinical trials or guidelines. Mysore also acknowledged that attaching bolts to animal skulls to keep their heads in an unnaturally fixed position could cause him to “misinterpret or misunderstand” the results.

PETA recently filed a groundbreaking lawsuit to protect the barn owls that Mysore uses in its experiments; the claim is pending.

PETA, whose motto is in part that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – opposes arrogance, a worldview focused on human excellence. For more information please visit PETA.org; follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram; or click here…