“Anthony Bellotti, the president and founder of White Coat Waste, leads the organization that investigated the UF experiment and said the organization tracks federal spending on cat experiments.” 📷 LOCAL ACTIVISTS CALL FOR END TO FEDERALLY FUNDED CAT EXPERIMENTS Protesters said UF research on neurological diseases have made cats unable to walk, communicate and eat By Juleidi Machuca, The Independent Florida Alligator October 17, 2026 “The White Coat Waste Project, a federal nonprofit watchdog group, obtained video footage from inside the facility this June through public records requests.” “‘[A]ll are euthanized when the clinical endpoints are reached,’ records obtained by WCW said.” “Bellotti, a former staffer working in an animal testing lab, founded the organization in 2011 to track federal spending on laboratories and hold government officials accountable.” “The work is funded by a National Institutes of Health grant totaling almost $2.7 million.” “The research involves 119 cats and studies gene therapy for Niemann-Pick disease type C1… restricting mobility and causing other neurological impairments…” “… 6-week-old kittens with artificial Niemann-Pick are given a gene therapy injection on their neck…” “USDA’s 2025 annual report confirmed that UF conducts research on 3,940 animals, 455 of which are cats.” “Kailey Mauro, the group’s research and investigations manager, said Vite was already on the group’s radar for his involvement in another study … involving cats at the University of Pennsylvania.” “Mauro said it has identified a second project at UF dating back to 2020, receiving more than $837,000 from the NIH, that involves cough and reflex testing on cats, another example of federally funded research at UF.” “Bellotti points out a gap between Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services’ promise to end animal testing and the administration’s actual spending.” “‘Rhetoric does not match the receipts,’ Bellotti said.” “He said agencies like the U.S. Navy, Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Veterans Affairs have begun phasing out animal testing, and added that the NIH is the ‘black sheep’ of the administration.”