Paul McCartney has released an anti-animal cruelty music video.
The animated music video features McCartney’s 1993 song “Looking for Changes,” which protests vivisection. McCartney donated the song to international rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) as part of their new campaign against experimenting on animals, Billboard reports.
“I’m looking for changes that will continue the momentum of getting animals out of laboratories,” McCartney said in a statement. “Experiments on animals are unethical – they’re a colossal failure and a waste of time and money. We can and must do better.”
Looking For Changes
The music video features animals — a cat, a rabbit, and a monkey — escaping a lab right before they’re experimented on. They join McCartney in a protest against vivisection on Capitol Hill.
“I saw a rabbit with its eyes full of tears. The lab that owned her had been doing it for years. Why don’t we make them pay for every last eye that couldn’t cry its own tears. Do you know what I mean?” says a verse from the song.
The song asks for “changes in the way we treat our fellow creatures,” adding “and we will learn how to grow.”
The song comes just one month after Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) urged the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to reduce animal testing.
“The NIH has publicly stated that reducing the number of animals used in biomedical research is an important agency priority,” she wrote in a letter to NIH Director Francis Collins.
Earlier this year, the NIH announced that it would replace animals in the drug and chemical toxicity testing process with cruelty-free methods. However, the number of animals currently used in biomedical research is not public. Additionally, the Animal Welfare Act does not protect around 95 percent of animals used in labs. The federal law excludes birds, mice, rats, and cold-blooded animals.
Paul McCartney’s Activism
Paul McCartney has is a long-time animal advocate. He and his daughters — sustainable fashion designer Stella McCartney and photographer Mary McCartney — launched the Meat Free Monday campaign in 2009. The UK-based charity partners with schools, businesses, and institutions to raise awareness of the benefits of adopting a plant-based diet.
