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Supporting people with firsthand experience in animal research and accelerating the transition toward science without animal or human suffering.

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Portraits from the Lab offers a heartbreaking glimpse into the psychological and emotional experience of people who have worked in animal research.

One of the ten stories is titled, A Witness and A Bridge, and we hope you’ll take the time to read it in full (link in comments).

Here is an excerpt:

I answered a job posting for an animal care technician at a research facility. I was nineteen, naïve, and in need of money, with no real understanding of what I was walking into.

My job was to clean cages and provide food, water, and daily weights for rodents and rabbits. Over time, I began to notice that my favorite rabbits and rats didn’t return after surgery.

For better pay, I moved to another research facility. This time there were calves, pigs, primates—and eventually, dogs. I played with them, talked to them, and gave them treats. A veterinarian warned me that I was becoming too attached.

Two Coonhounds arrived, and I was assigned their room. After a few days, they settled as much as they could.

Secretly naming them became my way of staying sane.

By the second week, their nightmare began. I won’t describe it, but we all should know the painful and deeply stressful procedures inflicted on animals in the pursuit of human cures.

One morning, I walked into work and saw that one of the dogs was gone. His kennel was empty. The cage cards had been removed. A scientist approached me and said, “You can euthanize the other dog—we won’t be using it.”

I ran to my boss and pleaded to let me adopt the remaining dog. After some back-and-forth, she finally agreed, but only if I took him that day and told no one. I called my dad, begging him to say yes. He did. I put Marley in my truck and brought him home.

When I look back now, shame arrives before grief. I carry the weight of what I witnessed, the eyes of animals I could not save.

I left the field in 2025— finally…and for good.

Marley feels like both a witness and a bridge between who I was and who I’ve chosen to become, and I will forever remember him, and all the animals.

Artwork by @lilia_alfaro.art

#animalfreeresearch #animalresearch #science #mentalhealth #artexhibitions by @justify.global

📌 We have an incredible opportunity to expand public reporting of animal experiments and we need your help to make it happen!

Right now, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) does not accurately track how many animals are used in government-funded laboratories. But that could change.

The NIH is seeking public input on a recently-announced plan to accurately count vertebrate animals used in experiments and publicly report that information.

If we don’t track animal numbers, we cannot measure national progress toward replacing animal experiments.

Who isn’t being counted currently? Vertebrates like mice, rats, fish, and birds… the animals who make up at least 95% of the animals used in biomedical research.

Join Justify’s Executive Director, Madeline Krasno, and @physicianscommittee’s Director of Research Advocacy, Ryan Merkley, to learn more about the problem and exactly what you can do to enact a much-needed change.

🔗 Click the events link in our bio to register for the November 17 webinar! by @justify.global

Justify is grateful to be presenting at the 13th Annual 3Rs Symposium taking place virtually in November!

Executive Director Madeline Krasno’s presentation, Beyond Compassion Fatigue: Moral Injury, Worker Voices, and the Case for Replacement, will take place on Monday, November 2 from 8:15-8:50 am PST.

🔗 Registration for this *free* symposium can be found in our bio.

About the 3Rs Symposium:

Discover new ideas and approaches for advancing the 3Rs at this 4-day symposium. This year’s theme, Innovative Uses of the 3Rs, will bring together national and international experts to share creative solutions, emerging approaches, and practical examples of replacement, reduction, and refinement in action.

The first three days will feature virtual programming, followed by a fourth day of complementary events, the University of Washington’s 3Rs Symposium and Seattle Cancer Consortium’s NAMs Symposium, with virtual and in-person attendance options.

This symposium is jointly organized by the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the USDA’s Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) at the National Agricultural Library, the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, National Institutes of Health, and the University of Washington. by @justify.global

Some of the hardest barriers inside animal laboratories aren’t the ones made of steel.

In this deeply personal reflection, a former laboratory veterinary technician shares what it was like to care for monkeys confined behind locked doors and cage bars, to witness suffering, and to realize that recognizing a problem didn’t always mean having the power to change it.

From the physical barriers separating workers from animals to the institutional culture that can discourage questioning established practices, this story reveals how difficult it can be to advocate for animals from inside the very systems responsible for their care.

What happens when you’re expected to care for animals, but aren’t always empowered to act on that care?

Read Barriers: The Monkeys That I Cared For and the Wall Between Us, a powerful firsthand account from a member of Justify’s lab worker community.

📌THIS JUST IN link in our bio! by @justify.global

Justify is excited to have a table at the San Francisco VegFest for the first time this year!

📚Stop by our table for a chance to win books written by our CEO Lindsay Oliver and Board Member John Gluck!

🎨We will have a few of the pieces from Justify’s online art & storytelling exhibition, Portraits from the Lab, on display in physical form for the first time too.

Let us know if we will see you there! by @justify.global

A Justify community member is sharing firsthand accounts of what really happens inside animal research laboratories through their Substack, Voices From Inside the Lab.

We’re grateful they’re bringing these often-unheard stories to light. 💡

Excerpt:

If you work in a research facility, at some point you become familiar with the four letters that are assigned to the animals: B, C, D, and E.

These letters represent the classification levels used by the facility to report how lab animals’ pain and distress is managed, including whether they are to be given pain-relieving drugs, and if not, why.

On paper, it looks like the categories are there to ensure the animals get the pain relief they need; but the reality is often different.

What do the letters actually mean for the animals?

I spent years working in an animal research facility. I worked in surgery providing anesthesia, assisting with procedures, monitoring animals, and working with the researchers to help minimize pain. I also did daily rounds, checking on animals that animal care technicians flagged as having health problems. I saw some that received medications for pain and anxiety, and unfortunately some others that did not. I saw situations that left me questioning whether an animal’s medical needs were being considered compared to the goals of the experiment.

📌 Substack is linked in Justify’s bio by @justify.global

YOU DID IT!!!! 🥳

As of October 14, Justify had 12 recurring monthly supporters.

On October 15, for my 36th birthday, I asked for *your* help getting us to 36.

Consistent, reliable support ensures we can plan ahead, grow our programs, and create lasting change for humans and animals. Those $5, $10, $50 per month gifts are gold and any nonprofit will tell you this.

I am so incredibly grateful to share that we now have 38 of you committed to giving monthly and one of you committed to an annual gift!!!

And of course, I also want to say how much I appreciate those of you who gave and continue to give whenever the moment feels right. 💕

Thank you to all who are helping Justify build a worker-led movement that supports individuals with firsthand experience in animal research, amplifies their voices, and accelerates the transition toward science without animal or human suffering! 🧪🐒💝

for animals. for people. for science. by @justify.global

For my 36th birthday, I have a wish: to help Justify reach 36 monthly supporters. 🎂 💓

We currently have 12, which means we need just 24 more people willing to give $5 a month (or whatever amount feels right!).

When I first began speaking publicly about my experiences working in a primate laboratory, I knew how difficult it could be to question a system you were once part of. Speaking out, challenging censorship through lawsuits against UW–Madison and the NIH, and sharing the stories of animals and people affected by research have all been part of my effort to make these conversations possible.

But I’ve never wanted my story to be the exception. I want more people working inside animal laboratories to feel safe questioning what they’ve been taught, sharing what they’ve experienced, and advocating for change.

That’s why Lindsay Oliver, Mallory Cormier, and I created Justify.

We’re building a community where people with firsthand experience in animal research can find support, reflect openly, and use their unique perspectives to help accelerate the transition toward human-relevant, animal-free science.

And we’re working to make sure their voices are heard by the public, scientific institutions, and policymakers who have the power to change things for people, for animals, and for science.

If you’ve ever been moved by my story, inspired by the lawsuits, or grateful that someone was willing to speak openly about what happens behind laboratory doors, I hope you’ll consider helping us make it possible for more people to do the same.

Systemic change won’t come from one person speaking out but from building a movement of people who know this system firsthand and believe we can do better.

Even $5 a month helps give Justify the stability to keep showing up for these individuals, amplifying their voices, and pushing for a future where neither humans nor animals have to suffer in the name of science.

36 years. 36 monthly supporters. 24 more to go. 🙏

Will you help make my birthday wish come true?

You’ll find the link in my and @justify.global’s bio. 💕🥳

***

🎨 Art by @reptil_ufo
🐶 Former lab beagle Tiramisu rescued by @kindnessranch by @justify.global

A few action shots from our primate lab event this past Wednesday with UW-Madison alumna @madelinekrasno!

Thank you to everyone who came out to learn about Maddie's time at the Harlow Lab working with primates, and how it informs the important advocacy work she now does with @justify.global on behalf of all animals used in research, as well as the many students, lab workers, and researchers involved in the industry.

And stay tuned for more information about how to get involved in our campaign to end the use of primates in research at UW-Madison! by @justify.global

🏆 We are incredibly honored to share our inaugural John Gluck Award for Scientific Integrity, presented to Dr. John Gluck!

This award recognizes individuals who show exceptional integrity, courage, and honesty by speaking openly about the impacts of animal research and helping move science toward animal-free, human-relevant methods.

John spent decades inside a system few people ever see. At a time when silence was easier, he chose honesty. By speaking out, he helped create space for others to question, to leave, and to imagine something better.

He shared these words with us: “This honor touches my life’s hope for the deep and peaceful respect of all animals in science.”

We’re honored to name this award after John. It exists because of him.

The John Gluck Award for Scientific Integrity: For courage, honesty, and leadership in advancing ethical, human-relevant science.

Dr. John Gluck
Inaugural Recipient
2026

#AnimalResearch #Science #Integrity #Justify by @justify.global

🦡 UW-Madison: I’m coming “home” for homecoming and hope to see you at one or both of these talks next week!

One will be more law and first amendment focused — chatting with constitutional law scholar Howard Schweber about the lawsuits I won against UW and the NIH, and the other will be more primate lab-focused, covering my experience working at Harlow Primate Lab and the organization I co-founded, Justify, which is a worker-led nonprofit supporting individuals with firsthand experience in animal research, elevating their voices, and advocating for science without human or animal suffering.

Thanks to all the students hosting me and look out for us doing outreach on campus as well. 📣

Register via link in bio! 🔗 by @justify.global

🐒 Justify Founder & CEO Lindsay Oliver’s debut book comes out two weeks from today on *October 6,* and pre-orders are now open! A huge thank you to those of you who have already ordered it! 🙌

A note from Lindsay:

Before Justify existed, I spent four months undercover working inside a primate research facility. I went there to document what was happening to the monkeys, but while I was there, I encountered something I hadn’t expected: the human side of animal research.

I got to know people who were struggling with what they witnessed and participated in. I saw people crying in hallways, trying to reconcile the field they entered and the experiences they didn’t feel safe talking about.

It became very clear that there needed to be somewhere these individuals could go without judgment. Somewhere they could talk honestly about what they were experiencing, whether they were still working in animal research or had left it behind.

That’s where the idea for Justify began.

Those experiences are also part of the story I tell in my new book, Marshmallows Are Their Favorite: Undercover at a Primate Lab.

While the book isn’t about Justify specifically, it tells the story of that investigation, including the people I came to know and the experiences that changed how I understood the human impact of animal research.

Writing this book has been a long journey and far more than I knew what I was getting myself into. It’s quite surreal to finally be putting this story out into the world, but I’m incredibly excited to share it with you. And I hope you will connect with these stories like I did.

It feels pretty special that what started in that lab has grown into what Justify is today. Many thanks to Maddie, Mallory, and all of you for making that happen.

Whether you’re part of our community, work in this field, or support what we’re building generally, thank you for being here and for believing in the need for a space like Justify. ❤️ by @justify.global