Actor James Cromwell and another man have been charged with disorderly conduct after police said they disrupted a meeting of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.
The 79-year-old actor and a 34-year-old man named Jeremy Beckman were part of a demonstration by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in College Station on Thursday to protest A&M’s use of dogs for medical research.
“Texas A&M continues to torment golden retrievers and other dogs, even though decades of these experiments have not led to a cure for humans with muscular dystrophy,” Cromwell said in PETA’s news release.
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“It’s time to let the dogs out, and my friends at PETA and I want them released to good homes where they can live out the rest of their lives in peace,” Cromwell said.
Cromwell and Beckman were booked into the Brazos County Jail on suspicion of hindering proceedings by disorderly conduct, according to a police department spokesperson.
The actor and Beckham were released after posting bonds of $5,000 each. Hindering proceedings by disorderly conduct is punishable by up to a year in jail.
Texas A&M University released a statement to People saying that “the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires therapies be proven safe in animals before they can be tested in humans.”
“These preclinical studies are required before clinical trials in humans to make sure the drug does not have the potential to inflict serious harm. Unfortunately, no complete alternatives to animal research exist at this time, though A&M currently uses computer models, epidemiological studies, cell cultures and other methods when possible,” the statement read.
“Until you try a drug in a living being — a breathing organism — you won’t know its potential,” the statement continued. “You don’t want someone’s child to be the first time you try a drug.”
Texas A&M University announced recently that it was reducing its breeding of dogs for medical research.
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This isn’t the first time Cromwell has been arrested for taking part in protests with PETA.
In September 2017, Cromwell was charged with trespassing for interrupting and denouncing an orca show at SeaWorld in San Diego.
Cromwell, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role as the farmer in Babe, has previously said he would serve jail time rather than pay fines in cases related to his various causes as an activist.
The trespassing charge stems from a July 24, 2017, incident where Cromwell and six other activists from PETA launched a protest during an orca show at SeaWorld San Diego.
He was wearing a “SeaWorld Sucks” T-shirt when he and the six other activists stood up in front of the Orca Encounter show at SeaWorld on July 24.
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Cromwell told park visitors through a megaphone that SeaWorld was condemning the orcas to premature deaths.
“Here, they do not swim with their families, they are separated from them,” Cromwell said
The protesters were forcibly removed by security. The orca show resumed minutes later.
“Orcas deserve a full life in the ocean, not a life sentence of swimming endless circles until they drop dead from disease,” Cromwell said in a statement. “My friends at PETA and I want SeaWorld to move these intelligent animals to seaside sanctuaries without delay.”
In June 2017, Cromwell was sentenced to one week in jail for obstructing traffic during a sit-in to protest the construction of a natural gas-fired power plant in New York in 2015. Cromwell and others involved in the protest were found guilty of disorderly conduct and required to pay $375 in fines and court costs.
In 2013, Cromwell was arrested at the University of Wisconsin for protesting the school’s on-site animal testing.
—With files from The Associated Press