Dec 09, 2013 01:06 PM EST By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Close to 100 protestors and their dogs gathered Saturday outside the dental school building on the Georgia Regents University campus to protest the school's use of animals in their dental experiments, the Associated Press reported.

Animal rights activists walked from the Augusta Judicial Center to the university's College of Dental medicine to demand a change in current practices. They've also asked the federal government to pull taxpayer money that goes to the university's research.

Kathleen Conlee, vice president for animal issues at the Humane Society of the United States, told WXIA-TV their request is simple.

"We want them to stop these dental experiments on dogs," she said. "We want them to stop buying these dogs for what are known as random sourced dealers." 

A three-month undercover investigation revealed that dogs being used in the university's experiments had their teeth removed and replaced with implant, they were euthanized afterwards and researchers took jaw bone samples from them, according to Humane Society.

According to the AP, university officials said the school's animal use policies are regularly reviewed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and adhere to local, state and federal guidelines.

University officials also said the school does not frequently use dogs for research, and projects involving "animal use" are reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The IACUC is an entity that must be established by institutions using lab animals for research or instruction.

Augusta, Ga. Resident Dennis Briatico helped organize Saturday's protest. He said he took to social media once he found out about the dental implant program.

"This is my personal message to you, GRU. Look around you," Briatico said. "Augusta cares about its animals. You should have been expecting us." 

During the protest, Conlee read a statement from actress Kim Basinger, who narrated a video produced by the Humane Society outlining the program, the AP reported.

"This is very, very wrong. Knowing innocent animals are suffering unfathomable cruelty and ending their lives in labs, it is barbaric, primitive and inhumane, to say the least," Conlee read from Basinger's statement.

Georgia Regents University's Senior Vice President Mark Hamrick has said the tests are neither frivolous nor unnecessary, and are a key component of developing safe and effective dental procedures for humans.

Briatico said he'll stage another demonstration in early 2014 if the university doesn't change its animal use procedures.

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