The non-profit White Coat Waste (WCW) has uncovered disturbing evidence of animal abuse at the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC), where taxpayer dollars are funding barbaric procedures on cats, including former pets sourced from local shelters.
According to records obtained by WCW, UMC maintained a colony of homeless cats acquired from Jefferson City, Missouri’s public animal shelter, using them as blood donors in ways that risked anemia and dangerously low blood levels.
These cats, many likely lost or abandoned pets because they had microchips, could be confined for up to two years before potentially being euthanized if deemed “medically necessary” rather than rehomed.
It gets worse.
WCW reports that UMC has National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for cruel experiments on 91 cats. UMC has received $528,052 in taxpayer funds for the project, which is active through at least April 2026.
In these tests, cats suffer deliberate spinal cord injuries to study the effects on swallowing and motor function.
Procedures include cutting open their skulls, forcing hyperventilation with carbon dioxide via ventilators, inserting tubes to induce coughing, and delivering electric shocks to their voice boxes.
WCW President Anthony Bellotti slammed the program, writing, “Taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll the barbaric abuse of pets in wasteful experiments. Yet the NIH has betrayed both pets and the public by allowing Mizzou’s mad scientists to continue crippling and killing cats with our tax dollars—more than eight months after NIH’s Nicole Kleinstreuer said she’d end it. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness.”
In response to several viral social media posts about the exposé, the University of Missouri admitted publicly that it obtained cats from a mid-Missouri shelter in May 2024.
UMC insisted the three shelter cats are not enrolled in “research,” but admitted they’re having their blood drained to be used for donations to other cats. Instead of cruelly confining cats in cages, many other universities and veterinary schools accept blood donations from people’s pets who are given free vet care and exams in exchange.
However, UMC also admitted in its social media comments that it purchased four additional cats in October 2025 from Marshall BioResources, a company that breeds thousands of cats for research, including for an NIH-funded project.
Notably, UMC stated that these cats are still alive and no invasive procedures have been performed on them yet.
WCW is demanding their immediate release.
The Gateway Pundit contacted Mizzou with a series of questions, including, “Does Mizzou still plan to use the four cats purchased in October 2025 for NIH-funded research? If so, for what procedures? If not, will Mizzou release these four cats to private homes, a rescue, or a sanctuary?”
Mizzou’s Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs, Christopher Ave, responded by confirming that they will be using the cats for the painful research, claiming that testing on cats is “an essential step in the discovery and preclinical research process due to the complex nature of living systems and the similarity of humans and animals.”
Ave said the cats will not be given up, and will still be tested on using “reduce, refine, and replace principles to develop new therapies for human patients.” He also confirmed Mizzou has three cats taken from a shelter that “serve as blood donors to save the lives of sick or injured pet cats presented to its veterinary hospital.”
The NIH grant, first awarded in 2022 during the Fauci era, continues to fund UMC’s cat experiments despite growing scrutiny of government waste and animal cruelty.
As of now, NIH Deputy Director Nicole Kleinstreuer, a Fauci-era holdover in charge of NIH’s animal testing programs since April 2025, has allowed UMC’s cat testing to continue despite claiming last year she was “working tirelessly” to phase out tests on pets.
WCW’s Bellotti told Gateway Pundit, “Thanks to Nicole Kleinstreuer’s lies and inaction, Mizzou is openly bragging about wasting more taxpayer money to buy, maim, and kill healthy cats, in defiance of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s promises a year ago to drastically cut NIH animal testing. NIH is failing taxpayers, animals, and RFK.”
The post EXPOSED: Taxpayer-Funded Mizzou Lab Caught Harvesting Blood from Former Pets in Cruel Program – Fauci-Era NIH Grant Still Funding Deadly Cat Tests appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.