For several months, Colorado State University leadership has been receiving emails from animal rights activists calling for the university to end the use of dogs and cats in laboratory research.

“Our mission is to protect animals from cruelty and exploitation by advocating for humane research, raising public awareness and holding institutions like CSU accountable for their treatment of animals,” said Cara Thorsen, a member of Fort Collins Animal Advocates. “We believe dogs and cats deserve love and compassion, not confinement and abuse in laboratories.”

Fort Collins Animal Advocates, an organization made up of residents and students, launched its campaign in May. The organization’s main goal is to pressure CSU to end the use of dogs and cats in animal experiments.

Thorsen cited animal research records and CSU partnerships with controversial labs when alleging unethical practices.

“CSU buys beagle puppies from Ridglan Farms, a Wisconsin puppy mill under federal investigation for animal cruelty — from birth to death, there’s a trail of suffering,” Thorsen said. “Dogs and cats are bred in mills, shipped to CSU labs, subjected to invasive experiments and long-term confinement and then killed.”

According to a statement by CSU, the majority of animals used in research are not owned by the university, and live normal lives with their owners outside of the university.

“Nearly all CSU dog and cat studies use dogs and cats owned by clients who opt their pets into studies while their pets live out their normal lives at home,” the statement reads. “A very small number of studies at CSU use dogs and cats owned by the university, and CSU adopts every eligible dog and cat used in those studies out into loving homes.”

CSU’s former ties to a Fort Collins-based lab, Red Beast Enterprises Inc., also known as High Quality Research, has fueled the organization’s protest. Following an investigation, HQR was cited for violating 11 federal Animal Welfare Act regulations.

Since the investigation, CSU no longer works with HQR.

“CSU’s hands are not clean,” Thorsen said. “They are committing animal cruelty at every step. CSU is stating that they no longer use Red Beast Labs since the investigation, but they are still continuing to use dogs and cats in their own labs on campus.”

Animal activists are calling on the university to invest in research alternatives such as using tissue and cell cultures, clinical trials, computer modeling and artificial intelligence.

“We expect CSU to publicly commit to ending the use of dogs and cats in experiments,” Thorsen said. “So far, CSU has not acknowledged our concerns or engaged in dialogue, but we remain hopeful that continued public pressure will lead them to do the right thing.”

However, the university stated that the majority of its studies are noninvasive, ethical and follow best practices and all standards are upheld, if not exceeded.

“The vast majority of these studies are non-invasive, such as teaching veterinary skills to obtain optimal images of organs or perform assessments,” the statement reads. “CSU meets or exceeds veterinary and research best practices and standards, federal laws (including the Animal Welfare Act), and veterinary ethical oaths. CSU research on cats and dogs has saved animal lives. … CSU has developed solutions including a new drug that saves 80-90% of kittens and cats infected with feline infectious peritonitis, which was previously nearly 100% fatal; the FeLV vaccine, now used to immunize cats worldwide against leukemia-causing retrovirus; and Tanovea, the only FDA approved drug to treat lymphoma in dogs, now used by veterinarians across the United States.”

While the animal advocacy campaign has been vocal around Fort Collins, one resident said she had been tricked into participating.

Annie Lilyblade said she was surprised to see that her account had been used to send an email to CSU leadership without her knowledge.

Lilyblade said she was with her mother and sister when they were approached by an individual at the Lagoon Concert Series this year and asked to scan a QR code to learn more about the Fort Collins Animal Advocates organization.

When she scanned the code, she said the individual who approached them quickly tapped her phone and left. Lilyblade then noticed that an email had been fully drafted and sent to CSU leadership and student media without her knowledge.

“We all assumed it was a website that we were looking at, and nowhere was it presented that it was anything bad about what was happening at CSU; she really gave little to no context on what her group was,” Lilyblade said. “It came from my personal business account, which is also very upsetting. … I had no time to read the email or even know that an email was being drafted.”

The email’s contents supposedly called on CSU to end animal experimentation and take the action Thorsen mentioned. Lilyblade said the email did not reflect her personal views.

“Honestly, I don’t agree with what’s in the email partly because I just don’t know enough about the information,” Lilyblade said. “I have the utmost respect for the vet program at CSU, and I would assume that they are not doing anything malicious.”

For Lilyblade, the issue centered more on personal privacy than the ethics of animal research.

“I was really embarrassed that it did go to CSU leadership and that this is something that they had to waste their time on, and it wasn’t something that I agreed to or believed in,” Lilyblade said. “I would also assume that other people had that happen to them as well, and they may or may not be aware that even happened.”