Vegan animal advocate and actor Evanna Lynch has teamed up with a charity in a ‘first of its kind’ lawsuit to end lab experiments on owls at John Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore, US.

The Harry Potter star is launching the lawsuit with PETA.

Animal testing lawsuit

According to PETA, the owls face invasive surgeries and are forced into cramped plastic containers.

In addition to Lynch, the team includes the former Maryland secretary of health, as well as a current JHU student.

Writing on her Instagram account, Lynch said: “We know these killings should be illegal – it’s in the Constitution.”

Saving owls

‘The goal of this litigation is to have the Helms Amendment abolished so that the federal government can do its job under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Currently, the amendment functions as a death sentence for tens of millions of animals every single year’, PETA claims.

The organization says it has already spent years trying to rescue the owls. Last year, it released photographs exposing what the owls are subjected to, which were obtained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

PETA neuroscientist and postdoctoral JHU fellow Dr. Katherine Roe said: “Cutting open barn owls’ heads won’t help humans with ADD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder].

“PETA is calling on Johns Hopkins to stop pouring money into cruel experiments that contribute nothing to treatments for humans.”

In a newsletter released last year, JHU claims it conducts the experiments ‘to better understand how the human brain works’.

Evanna Lynch

Lynch is the brains behind The Chickpeeps podcast – which renewed for a third season last year. She has long spoken out against animal cruelty and shared her views on veganism with her 3.6 million Instagram followers.

Additionally, she is the founder of Kinder Beauty Box, which is a vegan and cruelty-free beauty product subscription service.

‘I need you all to help us make a difference for owls’, she added on Instagram.

John Hopkins University has been approached for comment.