Dr. John Pippin

Works to Promote Alternatives to the Use of Animals in Medical and Drug Research

Tamra Monahan reports
Photo by Kristina Bowman Photography

Dr. John Pippin has come full circle in his view of animals rights. As a medical researcher in the 1980s, he realized that using animals as test subjects was a cruel and inhumane treatment of these helpless creatures. An enlightened Dr. Pippin emerged from this "dark side" radically changed and has since devoted his life and energy to the protection of animals.

"I am about animal protection, a position that focuses on ending our abuse and killing of animals for food, research, drug and product testing, education, entertainment, hunting, and all other human purposes," he says. "I'm also about a fundamental level of animal rights, because I believe that all sentient creatures - human and nonhuman - have an inherent right to freedom from abuse and killing. This means, of course, that I support the no-kill animal shelter movement."

Two pivotal events led Dr. Pippin to a life of protecting and saving animals. The first was in 1987 when he realized that animal research is not only horribly cruel, but also a fraud that cannot prevent or cure human diseases. This epiphany changed his career and made him a vocal critic of animal experimentation. The second was in 2004, when Dr. Pippin had to choose between continuing to advocate publicly against animal research and keeping his career as founding director of cardiology at Cooper Clinic in Dallas. He chose the animals, and has never regretted the choice.

"Animals have nobody but the animal protection community between them and egregious misuse, abuse, and death at the hands of our species," he says. "For those of us with true hearts for animals, such evils as eating, wearing, fighting, breeding, imprisoning, hunting, and experimenting on our animal kin must be ended."

For the past six years, Dr. Pippin has worked full time with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a physician-led advocacy organization that promotes best scientific, medical, and ethical practices regarding human and nonhuman animals. He is a fierce crusader for no-kill animal shelters, and he founded two animal protection organizations in Dallas: the North Texas Animal Rights Network and Texans Exposing Petland. These groups, along with the Animal Connection of Texas, are leading the battle for animals in north Texas.

As a lover of animals, Dr. Pippin opens his heart and his home for rescues in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Currently, he has seven dogs, but he has had as many as ten dogs living with him, all of whom share a special place in the life of this hard working animal-rights advocate. "In my life I've had more than two dozen dogs, all rescues or homeless animals. In my world, they are a combination of child and best friend."

For more information or to contact:
John J. Pippin, MD, FACC
Senior medical and Research
Advisor Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Website: www.pcrm.org