Actor James Cromwell Arrested For PETA Protest At University Of Wisconsin
By Samantha Abernethy in News on Feb 8, 2013 4:20PM
James Cromwell, 73, mugshot / Dane County Sheriff's Office
Actor James Cromwell, 73, was arrested for disorderly conduct after he interrupted a University of Wisconsin board meeting as part of a PETA protest against animal research.
Cromwell and another PETA representative, Jeremy Beckham, walked into a Board of Regents meeting shouting, "The Regents are looking the other way while UW-Madison lies to the public about abusing cats and squandering taxpayers' money on cruel and wasteful experiments."
Cromwell goes on to yell, "This is not science! This is torture!" Watch the video below.
The Babe actor was also arrested for trespassing in 2001 after participating in a PETA protest at a Virginia Wendy's. PETA claims cats are tormented and killed when used for experiments at the university. PETA writes, "For decades, countless cats have been imprisoned, cut into, and killed in cruel and useless "sound localization" experiments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW)."
In October, federal inspectors with the USDA cleared UW-Madison of PETA's claims that the research on cats was cruel.
http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/on_campus/on-campus-uw-madison-cleared-by-feds-in-peta-cat/article_3b084270-13d1-11e2-a91d-0019bb2963f4.html
After Cromwell's arrest, Eric Sandgren, director of the UW-Madison Research Animal Resource Center, said in a statement:
Today's events are just another attempt by outside activists to draw attention to a cause. They have attacked and distorted this research -- which has very real benefits for people who are deaf -- from every angle imaginable. Exhaustive independent investigation by the USDA, which regulates the use of animals in research, concluded that PETA's allegations are baseless.
Cromwell appeared on Madison's WMTV where he said what is happening in that laboratory is "egregious, cruel and unnecessary." Watch video below.