Written by PETA
Victory Update: Following a year of vigorous campaigning, PETA has learned that government officials have grounded plans for a cruel and ineffective radiation experiment on monkeys. Learn more about this victory for monkeys.
It's World Week for Animals in Laboratories—do you know where your tweets are? Hopefully, they will soon be winging their way to NASA, with 140 characters of outrage (politely worded, of course) at its absurd plan to spend $1.75 million to bombard up to 30 squirrel monkeys with radiation and then lock them up and watch their bodies and minds deteriorate (which, based on past radiation experiments, could include blindness, brain tumors, and other types of cancer).
After you've tweeted at NASA, head on over to Lori Garver's Facebook page (she's NASA's deputy administrator) to let her know where you weigh in on the "Save the Monkeys" debate. And don't forget to link to PETA's action alert on your home page.
Then pick up the phone and give Garver (202-358-1020) and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (202-358-1010) a call. Tell them you'd much prefer that your tax dollars be spent on modern, humane research methods that actually have some relevance to humans.
Finally, ask your congressional representative to use his or her influence to blast NASA's cruel, wasteful, and possibly illegal plan to another galaxy—preferably one with no life forms that the space agency can exploit.
Written by Alisa Mullins
"Heaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out." —Mark Twain
Italy had Leonardo da Vinci, India had Mahatma Gandhi, England had William Wilberforce, and the U.S. had Mark Twain.
Like these other luminaries, Twain was a committed advocate for the humane treatment of animals, and we don't think that aspect of his life should be left out of any commemoration. So in advance of next week's 100th anniversary of Twain's death, PETA is donating $5,000 to The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal, Missouri, and PETA Vice President Dan Mathews will be there to unveil a plaque featuring a quote from Twain about animal experimentation:
I believe I am not interested to know whether Vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't. To know that the results are profitable would not remove my hostility to it. The pains which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity towards it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further. It is so distinctly a matter of feeling with me, and is so strong and so deeply-rooted in my make and constitution, that I am sure I could not even see a vivisector vivisected with anything more than a sort of qualified satisfaction.
Animals were integral to Twain's writing from his first stories through his final years, and many of his animal-related pieces are spotlighted in Mark Twain's Book of Animals.
If you're going to be in Hannibal on Saturday at noon, come join Dan (who cites Twain as an inspiration in his memoir, Committed) as he unveils PETA's plaque at The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. With it in place, Twain's animal rights message will reach thousands of future visitors to the museum.
Written by Paula Moore
Wow, that was fast! Less than a day after PETA released heartbreaking photos and posted an action alert on our Web site drawing attention to the plight of more than 50 dogs who were transported on a Lufthansa cargo plane from the U.S. to a notorious Charles River Laboratories animal testing facility in Scotland, Lufthansa has announced a new policy prohibiting the transport of dogs and cats to laboratories. To everyone who responded to our call to action, thank you!
It's a great first step and an important victory for cats and dogs. We're delighted that Lufthansa acted so speedily. But all animals suffer in laboratories, so PETA is currently in discussions with Lufthansa concerning additional measures that can be taken to protect animals of other species.
Can't sheep get a break?
First, we told you that PETA and Madison, Wisconsin's Alliance for Animals petitioned for prosecution after experimenters at the University of Wisconsin–Madison killed sheep in excruciating U.S. Navy–funded decompression experiments. (Killing animals by decompression is specifically prohibited by Wisconsin's Crimes Against Animals law.)
Now we've learned that 16 sheep were restrained, injected with methamphetamines, shocked with a Taser device for up to 40 seconds and killed in cruel and ineffective experiments aimed at studying how being shocked with a Taser affects the hearts of meth addicts who run from the cops. These ridiculous Taser-funded experiments were conducted at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis by Taser medical director Jeffrey Ho and others. Of course, sheep don't do drugs or resist arrest, and they shouldn't be made to suffer because some humans do. To boot, medical experts, the authors of this sheep study, and others have concluded that data obtained from using Tasers on drugged-up animals (including pigs on cocaine!) are not relevant to humans.
These twisted folks may have violated federal animal protection laws, so PETA has fired off a complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture calling for an immediate investigation. We'll keep you posted as the case unfolds.
In the meantime, here's how you can take action against cruel animal experiments.
Yesterday, PETA filed a lawsuit against the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW) for alleged violations of the Wisconsin Public Records Law. UW has refused to provide PETA with information related to the university's invasive and deadly taxpayer-funded eye-movement experiments on monkeys and cats. UW completely denied PETA access to some records, such as videos of experiments and complaints about potential violations of the law, and redacted important information from other documents that were provided.
In the experiments, holes are drilled into animals' skulls; recording chambers and restraint posts are bolted to their heads; electrodes are inserted into their brains; and stainless steel coils are implanted in their eyes. Some cats have even had their ears cut off. Monkeys and cats are typically immobilized in restraint devices in dark rooms for hours at a time and coerced into following visual or auditory targets with their eyes. At the end of the experiment, many of the animals are killed, and their brains are removed and dissected. UW continues to conduct these experiments despite their inherent cruelty, irrelevance to human health, and the fact that safe, sophisticated, and accurate human-based methods for studying brain activity related to eye movement are available and can take measurements down to the single neuron.
UW has a horrendous history of violating federal animal welfare laws, and the school's refusal to release public information makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to track patterns of animal abuse and noncompliance.
And there's plenty of reason to be concerned. It was recently revealed that last year, the university suspended Michelle Basso, a vivisector who conducts eye-movement experiments on monkeys, because of her long history of abusing and neglecting monkeys—a history that dates back to 2003. Basso repeatedly performed sloppy surgeries that caused brain damage and bleeding, ignored advice from veterinarians, and left sick and injured animals unattended and untreated. Not only did it take UW six years to take serious action, but even after all that, Basso has had her permission to experiment on animals reinstated. And who can forget UW's illegal killing of sheep in painful decompression experiments?
There are thousands of animals' skeletons in UW's closet, and we intend to shed light on them all.
Written by Logan Scherer
Happy (belated) April Fool's, folks! If you were to pick out one of our blogs from yesterday and label it a fantasy, which would you pick? Sure, McDonald's basketball seems made up, but it turns out that we do not support genetically engineering rats. But judging from the comments on the first blog about our rabbit-rat hybrid, we were able to pull one over on a few of you with the help of our friends over at Ecorazzi. Got a good laugh out of it all? Well, you're in good company, because it turns out that rats—who are sensitive, clever, and affectionate—love to laugh too! (And, no, we're not kidding this time. That really has been proved.)
To treat animals better only because they are cute is as insupportable as genetically engineering rats to have powder-puffy tails. No one deserves to be killed with gut-wrenching poisons, force-fed toxic chemicals, or left writhing on a glue trap because they aren't considered important. Tell us what you think:
Sticking up for rats—who are sensitive, intelligent, and nurturing—has always been high on our agenda, although not everyone understands that these dear little mammals are worth caring about … yet.
There is hope, however. For the last 14 months, we've been funding two scientists at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) who are formulating a hybrid species that will make rats less despised. You may remember when we lodged a complaint against the INRA for the glow-in-the-dark rabbit, but sometimes good things come from bad. The rabbit genome is nearly identical to that of the rat, and we have found a way to put this science and experience to good use. Using the same zygote microinjection process (to which we still object!) that was used to create the glow-in-the-dark rabbit, these geneticists can isolate the gene that's responsible for bunnies' cotton-ball tails and then insert it into fertilized rat egg cells. The results are truly phenomenal, producing a genetically engineered rat whom no one will want to harm:
"People are almost certain to be kinder to a tiny mammal with a powder-puff tail," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "Not only would this pay off in cities that kill these animals with gut-wrenching poisons, it would also make it harder for lab assistants to force-feed toxic chemicals to them or for homeowners to watch them struggle in cruel glue traps."
Rats with a dominant gene for bunny tails can easily be released to breed with wild rodents in New York and other major cities, creating a "rat pack" whose charms no one will be able to resist.
Update: On Saturday, March 27, Utah's governor signed the bill into law, formally amending the state's pound-seizure law. This means that animal shelters are no longer required to turn over animals for use in cruel experiments. Hooray!
Thanks in large part to e-mails, letters, and phone calls from thousands of compassionate supporters, Utah legislators voted by an overwhelming majority to amend a state law so that government-run animal shelters will not be forced to sell dogs and cats to laboratories for use in cruel and deadly experiments upon request. Once the governor signs the bill, Utah will no longer have the dubious distinction of being one of only three states in the country that still mandate that animal shelters engage in this shameful practice. The new law also lengthens the required holding period for animals in shelters and mandates that shelters make greater efforts to find the guardians of lost animals.
These positive changes come on the heels of a recent PETA undercover investigation inside laboratories at the University of Utah. The shocking investigation revealed that each year, more than 100 homeless cats and dogs from government-run animal shelters in Utah are sold to the university for use in invasive, painful, and deadly experiments. In one instance, the university bought a pregnant cat from a local animal shelter and injected chemicals into her kitten's brains, causing fluid to build up inside their heads. All the kittens died.
With this new law, companion animals in Utah—and the people who care for them—can rest a little easier.
Please take a moment to contact the University of Utah and urge it to stop buying animals from animal shelters once and for all.
Written by Shawna Flavell
Cops in Spokane are searching for a frustrated pop who is believed to have put his screaming son up for sale on Craigslist. Apparently the dad didn't know that the "baby & kid stuff" section is intended for the sale of clothing, furniture, and accessories only—and that peddling children is a felony.
But dogs and cats, well, they're a different story. While Craigslist agreed to post a warning about the dangers of "free to a good home" ads few years ago, it has refused to disallow them, so a quick scan of the "free stuff" listings reveals dozens of unwanted, unloved, and "inconvenient" soon-to-be homeless animals. And many of these ads read almost identical to daddy dearest's "free toddler" post: "I don't know what else to do other than find a good family with kids or a couple that wants a son. I just won't give him to anyone."
Make no mistake: PETA encourages adoptions of dogs, cats, rabbits, gerbils, and other companion animals to responsible, thoughtful, competent, and loving adult guardians—but not just anyone. Simply to hand the leash—and the dog—to the first smiling stranger who pulls into the driveway is not enough to ensure the safety of the animal. Anyone who offers an animal up for adoption should personally visit the home of the potential guardian beforehand and follow up on the adoption later. Bunchers and other cruel humans are all too eager to get their hands on cast-aside cats and dogs from unsuspecting persons looking to find new homes for animals—and the fates of these "free" animals are often tragic.
We've contacted Craigslist about this important issue, and now the site's managers need to hear from you.
Written by Karin Bennett
PETA always tries to explain to people that what is done to animals inside laboratories would be illegal if it happened anywhere else. Burning, shocking, or poisoning a dog would typically land someone in jail. But paradoxically, as long as the abuse happens in a laboratory and is called "science," the people responsible for it are exempt from prosecution under cruelty laws in almost every state. Fortunately, there are some instances in which animal experimenters can be held legally accountable for tormenting animals, but we're learning that even in those cases, experimenters seem to be above the law. As you probably could've guessed, we're fighting to make sure that justice for animals is served!
Last year, Madison, Wisconsin's Alliance for Animals filed a complaint with the district attorney of Dane County alleging that experimenters at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (remember them?) had violated the state's Crimes Against Animals statute by killing sheep in U.S. Navy–funded decompression experiments (killing animals by decompression is specifically prohibited by Wisconsin law). The animals were placed in high-pressure hyperbaric chambers, and some died from the excruciating pain of decompression sickness ("the bends"), which occurs when bubbles of nitrogen gas form in the blood, muscles, and organs, including the brain. Did we mention that the French Navy and the U.K. Ministry of Defence no longer conduct decompression experiments on animals?
Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard investigated and concluded that UW-Madison did in fact violate state law by killing sheep by decompression. Incredibly, he decided that it wasn't worth his time and effort to pursue charges.
Fortunately, there is a Wisconsin law that allows private parties to request that a circuit judge order the filing of a criminal complaint in cases in which a crime has been committed and the D.A. refuses to take action. So PETA and Alliance for Animals have stepped in to petition for prosecution.
We'll keep you up to date on this case as it unfolds. In the meantime, please help us put an end to laboratory atrocities that are still taking place in campuses across the U.S.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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