Sussex Dog Walking Society has been campaigning to end animal testing.
The society (and their furry friends) have been urging students and campus goers to sign a petition to put a stop to testing on animals.
They told The Badger: “We firmly believe that no animals should be tested on but stopping testing on dogs is a crucial first step in the process of the UK becoming cruelty-free.
“These cruel tests that thousands of dogs are subjected to every year are not even for life-saving medicinal purposes, with the greatest number of tests being for pesticides, weed killers as well as cosmetics and Botox.
“Dogs are incredibly sensitive animals and do not deserve this trauma. Dogs are more than just our furry companions and research shows that they have the same level of emotional intelligence as toddlers, would we condone these kinds of experiments on toddlers?
“The world needs to take a more innovative approach to laboratory testing especially in the advent of progressive leaps in biotechnology, such as lab-grown organs. This would provide for much greater accuracy and far more reliable results without any harm being inflicted.
“We would also like to urge people to look for the ‘leaping bunny’ when shopping as this is the only assurance of a product being truly cruelty-free. Even vegan brands cannot assure that ingredients they contain have not been tested on animals.
“We aim to spread as much awareness of this topic as possible. When we were petitioning at the university, the majority of students we spoke to were shocked, believing that this kind of experimentation was already illegal. This alone shows how barbaric and outdated these methods are. Please spread awareness for this cause and get your friends, family and flatmates to sign this petition.”
Sussex Dog Walking Society aims to help students who miss their pets whilst at university, allowing them to de-stress. The society walks dogs once a week, usually on a Monday or Friday.
Society Membership costs £5 for a year and covers insurance, toys, treats and, of course, poo bags for canine friends. Non-students are also welcome and are urged to make a £1 donation to the society which will be given to a dog-related charity.
The society has also hosted walks with other University of Sussex societies such as Woman’s Rugby and Dev Soc.
Upcoming events include a walk with the two Hong Kong Societies on November 16.
Photo Credit: Sussex Dog Walking Society.