By: Aylin Quiroz, Staff writer 

On Monday and Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in front of Palms Dining Hall, students had the chance to experience what animals experience in animal testing facilities.  

PETA2 is the youth division of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) with the goal of teaching young people about animal rights and vegan lifestyle.  

“PETA’s abduction virtual reality tour lets participants experience the lives of animals used through the analogy of an alien abduction. The experience is non-graphic, but still disturbing,” said Makayla Hooper, a tour administrator for PETA. “Participants will watch as their friends have tubes shoved down their throats, be forced to inhale chemical fumes, experiencing cold cramped cages, knowing very well they will be next.”  

Abduction is part of a nationwide tour to encourage empathy among students for animals caged and tormented at college and university laboratories.  

“A lot of the universities we attend have animal testing happening on those campus grounds where they are being injected with deadly diseases and experiencing horrible atrocities that are morally problematic. A lot of students have no idea, especially knowing that each student’s tuition, regardless of their educational path, is funding animal testing on campus grounds,” explained Hooper.  

Students had a six-minute experience and received brochures regarding animal testing and a list of companies that are cruelty-free.  

“Why didn’t they fight back? the man who is screaming is weak, he succumbed to the pain where you need to embrace the pain it, “said Kerrion McClendon, a freshman in computer programming and mathematics. “But in the end, this is what animals experience, and I don’t understand how animals are treated this way. We should treat animals the way we want to be treated.”  

There are over 60 tours nationwide, and over 5,000 students have had VR experience, according to PETA2’s website. 

There is no due date for the petition and is helping with PETA’s Research Modernization NOW, a roadmap for replacing animal testing with human relevant methods.  

“This is the reality for millions of animals who are being abused in these laboratories throughout the us. So, we’re urging everyone to help stop the end of animal vivisection and animal testing by signing our petition and urging universities to switch to modern human relevant non=animal testing methods,” said Hooper. 

For more information, visit PETA2.com and text “abduct” to the number 30933.