Editor, Times-Dispatch:

As a soldier, taxpayer, and dog lover, I applaud Rep. Dave Brat for leading new bipartisan legislation — the aptly named PUPPERS Act — to cut federal spending on wasteful and unnecessary dog experiments that are still occurring at Veterans Affairs hospitals in a handful of cities.

At Richmond’s McGuire VA Medical Center, staff induce painful heart attacks in puppies and force them to run on treadmills to stress their compromised hearts. All of the dogs are then killed if they don’t die during the archaic experiments.

Recent investigations by advocates, Congress, and media outlets have found widespread animal cruelty and transparency and accountability failures at the Richmond dog testing lab. What’s more, federal agencies openly admit these kinds of animal tests rarely apply to humans and waste billions of dollars.

Every minute and penny the VA squanders on torturing puppies in outdated and wasteful experiments — and on trying to defend them — means less help that can be provided to veterans and wounded warriors who are suffering and dying because they can’t receive basic care and services from the agency.

Congress passing Brat’s Preventing Unkind and Painful Procedures and Experiments on Respected Species (PUPPERS) Act would be a great step toward reforming and modernizing the VA so it gets back to its mission of serving veterans.

Tyler Spires, U.S. Army
Richmond, VA