Iran plans to put a monkey in a capsule and send it into orbit

MY GOD what has happened to humans? Where is the compassion? With all of the technology we have today (just think about how far we have come in 20 years), they can't design a robot instead of using live animals? This makes me SICK!!!!!

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Iran announced today (March 17) that it has launched a new rocket and space capsule designed to carry a monkey into orbit, according to the country's state-run news agency.

According to Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency, the country launched the capsule on a Kavoshgar-4 ("Explorer" in Farsi) rocket Tuesday (March 15). The IRNA report stated that "data and images" from the capsule were expected to be sent from orbit 120 kilometers (75 miles) above the Earth, Reuters reported.

The launch marks a major step forward for Iran's fledgling space program, and a worrying sign for foreign nations fearing that Iran's space goals are aimed at developing space weapons. [Top 10 Space Weapons]
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Although the new space capsule is designed to carry living creatures, there were no animals onboard this test launch, IRNA and other news agencies reported.

Iran has launched a rat, two turtles and a worm on its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in February 2010, the nation said. In 2009, the Iranian space agency launched a telecommunications satellite onboard its Safir-2 rocket.

The new space capsule and the Kavoshgar-4 rocket were both unveiled by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in early February, the Agence-France Presse reported.

Ultimately, Iran has said it aims to launch a human into space by 2020, and to put an astronaut on the moon by 2025. The Islamic republic denies military motives for its space program, but Western nations fear that Iran is moving toward developing a ballistic missile capable of deploying a nuclear warhead.

Last year's launch of the Kavoshgar-3 rocket prompted the United States to call it a "provocative act."

Analysts say Iran's space goals are probably both scientific and militaristic, and the program allows the nation to build prestige among friends and enemies alike.

"They will clearly use dual-use technology for a military buildup, and as long as they at least dabble in human spaceflight, they get advantageous press coverage on that as well," Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of National Security Studies at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., told SPACE.com in November.

Before its recent series of successful launches, Iran reportedly had several rockets fail, including the first launch attempt of the Safir ("Ambassador") booster in August 2008.
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ONPRC is ripping baby monkeys out of moms prematurely and dissecting their little brains and the taxpayers pay for this!

SHAME ON YOU KEVIN GROVE!!! HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT? PERHAPS IN YOUR NEXT LIFE YOU CAN BE ONE OF YOUR OWN MONKEYS. HERE'S TO HOPING.
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Terrorizing Monkeys with Mr. Potato Head is Research?
Opinion by PETA
(November 30, 2010) in Society / Animal Rights
By Alisa Mullins

Just when you thought experiments on animals couldn't get any more cruel or absurd, the good folks at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) managed to come up with an experiment on baby monkeys that's so cruel and ridiculous it might even give Harry "Monster Mother" Harlow pause.

ONPRC experimenter Kevin Grove is spending $750,000 in taxpayer money per year to make monkeys fat and play mind games with their babies. First he feeds pregnant monkeys unhealthy high-fat diets.

After the babies are born (many preterm babies were cut out of their mothers' wombs and immediately killed so that their brains could be dissected), he attempts to scare the bejeezus out of them by putting things in their cages that he knows they are afraid of, including Mr. Potato Head dolls.

Yes, you read that right. If that doesn't do the trick, he engages the baby monkeys in staring contests. Yes, you read that right too.

The breathtaking conclusion of this baby-bullying in the name of science? Monkeys who are born to mothers who ate high-fat diets are more easily stressed and frightened than babies born to mothers who ate healthy diets. Gee, couldn't he have hung out at the local McDonald's and learned the same thing? Of course, if more people were vegan, any potential maternal-diet-related harms to babies would be minimized and people who torment animals for a living by purportedly investigating these problems—like ONPRC's Kevin Grove—might well be out of a job.

As part of our own little experiment, we attempted to scare the bejeezus out of attendees of the conference where the results of this study were presented by holding a protest.

Our findings? People who torment animals for a living are terrified at the idea that the public will find out about it. Take that, Mr. Potato Head.
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The ONPRC is torturing monkeys to help humans be slim and fit. Give me a break!!!!

Please be sure to go to the links of videos at the end of this article. This is just horrible to do to these monkeys and the research is stupid in my opinion. Like I always say... The scientists always need new funding so they have to think of another stupid study so they still have a job!!!! At the animals expense. Shame on you!!!
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Oregon health and Science University is practicing the barbaric act of using primates to test largely preventable human conditions: OBESITY & DIABETES.

Shiva and her colony which are mostly Rhesus Macaques are fattened up being fed daily with fattening foods, allowed no exercise, caged and once obese enough, they test various drugs and procedures on them.

Dr Grove said: “Our research model is a sedentary lifestyle with calorically dense diets”

Monkeys in this facility receive daily painful insulin shots to treat the human inflicted diabetes, and some develop clogged arteries. One monkey already died from a heart attack at a very young age. The unfortunate primate that is going through this suffers between months and years for human conditions that can largely be prevented by eating a healthy diet, which is obvious from this information. They had to fatten up the monkeys with unhealthy foods to be able to test these preventable diseases.

This doesn’t stop there as some endure the painful gastric bypass surgery and elevates to the point of killing these creatures to examine their brain and pancreas.

We are talking about a facility imprisoning over 4200 Rhesus Macaques monkeys in an unnatural environment for various "animal testing"

Rhesus Macaques are active and social creatures often enjoying life neighboring to humans at location of choice. They are wonderful swimmers and learn to handle the water at a tender age of 2 days old. They live on a kind herbivorous diet which is made up of a large variety of plant species

Rhesus Macaques have demonstrated a variety of complex cognitive abilities, including the ability to make same-different judgments, understand simple rules, and monitor their own mental states. We humans share 93% of our DNA sequence with Rhesus Macaques, proving that we shared a common ancestor roughly 25 million years ago.
Besides the unnecessary testing on primates for a mostly human caused preventable disease being immoral and void of compassion, Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine has proven that there are kinder alternatives.

*** Please sign this petition (at the bottom of the page) to end this barbaric practice***

* More information from New York Times and another on where your tax dollars are going

* In depth information regarding ONPRC at Oregon Health and Science University on "studies" performed on animals and why this must be stopped

* Undercover video at Oregon Health and Science University

* This past protest January 2011 is just the begining of what is to come. We will no longer be silent:
* See the way these social creatures live

* Attend the rally this Friday if you live local in Portalnd, OR
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The ONPRC Severs Monkey's spinal cords!!! If that aint abuse then what is?

Just try to imagine the pain and suffering and fear that each one of these monkeys have every minute of every day of their lives! Is this all worth it? for what? If it's for the people then let the people choose whether they want their name branded to these experiments.
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Back in March, we told you about the USDA's investigation at Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC). The investigation came about as a result of a PETA complaint exposing that a monkey had been operated on by mistake; that a sick, pregnant monkey had been denied veterinary care; and that other abuses had taken place. The USDA backed up our findings, citing ONPRC for violations of the Animal Welfare Act and issuing the facility a warning. And let's not forget what we found during our undercover investigation.

Well, it's been barely seven months, and ONPRC is in hot water again. According to a lawsuit filed by InVivo Therapeutics—one of the companies that hired ONPRC to torture experiment on monkeys—ONPRC so severely neglected seven monkeys whose spinal cords it had surgically severed that four of the monkeys had to be euthanized.

Of course, the lawsuit is a lose-lose for the monkeys. InVivo had paid ONPRC to paralyze the animals so that researchers could implant them with a device developed by InVivo in order to see if they would regain any movement. In the lawsuit, InVivo alleges that early in the research period, more than one third of the monkeys provided by ONPRC suffered illnesses or injuries such as bladder problems because ONPRC failed to provide the proper post-surgery care or a medical device necessary to keep their bodily systems functioning. InVivo also alleges that at least one monkey developed "a debilitating staph infection" as a result of bacteria at ONPRC.

The publicity surrounding the case has shined another spotlight on abuses at ONPRC as well as the inadequacy of the federal law that is supposed to protect animals in laboratories.

If you have a strong stomach, go to StopAnimalTests.com to find out more about the cruel, redundant, and archaic experiments conducted on primates at ONPRC, and then dash off a letter to the National Institutes of Health, urging it to stop funneling your tax dollars to ONPRC.

Written by Alisa Mullins
Posted by PETA
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The ONPRC is abusing 4300 Monkeys and making them obese

As I've pointed out in many essays (see also) our relationships with other animals are confused, challenging, frustrating, and range all over the place. Recently we've learned that rhesus monkeys, called "Furry couch potatoes," are being used to study human obesity and diabetes. In response to inquiries about this study conducted at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC), Diana Gordon, their Education Outreach Coordinator, sends out a dismissive boilerplate form letter rich in self-serving platitudes concerning their research specifically, and the use of animals in biomedical research generally. She notes that obesity is a huge problem - about 1/3rd of American adults are obese and that obesity is a risk factor for other serious diseases. Of course, many cases of obesity can easily be avoided by not eating all the horrible unhealthy foods that are advertised widely in mass media and by getting off the couch and taking some exercise. Ms. Gordon's letter also notes that the facilities at the ONPRC are better "than any zoo would have," as if this is a relevant standard of comparison. Neither research facilities nor zoos can come close to providing what these sentient beings need to have meaningful lives and to thrive and surely they are stressed.

Concerning the obesity studies, about 50 of the approximately 4300 monkeys who are imprisoned at the ONPRC are being used in this study. The monkeys are fattened up by giving them lots of rich, fattening food, and kept in small cages so they can't have any exercise, as if this sort of regime is going to tell us much about human obesity. Monkeys don't normally eat like this and are very active so the way in which they're treated is thoroughly abnormal and severely compromises their well being. It's highly likely that they're stressed and researchers are concerned about how stress compromises the reliability of the data they collect (see also). So, even if one doesn't care about how these monkeys are treated, indeed a frightening thought, we should all be concerned about whether the data are relevant to the questions at hand. Some of the monkeys will also undergo gastric surgery and be euthanized, a sanitized way of saying they're killed so that their pancreas and brain can be examined.
Ignoring the horrific ways in which these monkeys are treated, Ms. Gordon boldly claims, "This research could change how we look at and treat such childhood diseases." This is a self-serving assertion because this study, like numerous others that have been done on other non-human primates and other non-human animals, will likely shed little or no useful information on human disease. She also claims the researchers who are conducting this research are doing it for the "satisfaction of knowing that [they] are helping millions of people and animals who are suffering from disease." Once again this is misleadingly self-serving because there is little or no likelihood that any non-human animal will benefit from this research. Animals themselves rarely benefit from any research that is done in laboratories that focus on human diseases.

The ONPRC like other research facilities is not a place that a monkey would choose to inhabit. The ONPRC has previously been cited for the mistreatment of animals (see also). In my book The Emotional Lives of Animals I reported on a serious case of abuse at the ONPRC. Rhesus monkey number 14609 (numbered as if he were an object rather than a sentient, feeling being) was subjected to electro-ejaculation 241 times from 1991-2000. In this procedure, an awake male monkey is strapped into a restraining chair, two metal bands are wrapped around the base of his penis, and an electric charge is applied to cause ejaculation. Monkey 14609 was nicknamed "Jaws" by the researchers because one of the researchers taught him to bite the bars of his cage. As a result of the investigation of the egregious way in which Jaws was treated, one veterinarian resigned and some scientists made critical comments about conditions in the laboratory.

Concerning the treatment of animals at the ONPRC Ms. Gordon notes, "All research studies that are conducted at ONPRC must pass through an extensive review process by a number of oversight bodies before they are funded. Only the most important research questions and the most meticulously crafted research designs are undertaken. The care of all animals at the Center is regulated by a number of laws (including the Animal Welfare Act), and overseen by the USDA, which visits the Center at least twice a year (unannounced) to ensure that rules and regulations are being followed."

But we really can't have much faith in the review process at the ONPRC or elsewhere because numerous violations have been detected at major research facilities (see also) and these are only the violations that have been reported. The Federal Animal Welfare Act is not especially effective at protecting the vast number of animals who are used in research, including nonhuman primates. It's perfectly okay not only to fatten up monkeys and produce diseases that result in suffering and death, but also to starve, blind, and socially deprive them and millions of other animals, among other forms of use and abuse.

You can decide for yourself on the ethics of this sort of research. Should we induce obesity or subject animals to diseases from which they don't normally suffer in order to learn about human disease? At least one researcher doesn't think so. Barbara Hansen of the University of South Florida "prefers animals that become naturally obese with age, just as many humans do. Fat Albert, one of her monkeys who she said was at one time the world's heaviest rhesus, at 70 pounds, ate 'nothing but an American Heart Association-recommended diet.'"

A good deal of obesity can be easily prevented so these monkeys are being used to study a condition that many people can we can avoid simply by choosing healthier lifestyles. The monkeys shouldn't have to pay for our indiscretions and poor choices.

Please let the ONPRC that you don't support the use of these monkeys in this study by signing this petition.
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Four Monkeys found in Meth Lab

I wonder if the authorities checked to see if the monkeys were illegal in Rogersville. Those monkeys need to place someone that is safe for them!

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ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (CBS/AP) Hawkins County deputies investigating a meth lab found themselves confronted by four aggressive monkeys.

Narcotics Unit supervisor Sgt. Chad Gillenwater told the Kingsport Times-News deputies smelled methamphetamine at the home of William Alan "Monkey Man" Givan on Friday.

Inside the home they say they found methamphetamine cooking. They also found four monkeys, which Givan kept as pets. That, it turns out, is not illegal. However, the monkeys were aggressive toward officers and ripped the jacket of a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officer who was called in to investigate.

Officers turned the monkeys over to Givan's wife, who was not charged in relation to the meth lab.

Aside from the lab itself, deputies reported seizing other meth lab components including an improvised gas generator, starting fluid, a respirator and a five-gallon bucket of ammonia nitrate, reported the Kingsport Times-News.

Givan was booked on drug charges including manufacturing meth, possession of Schedule II narcotics, and aintaining a dwelling where narcotics are housed or sold and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was released from the Hawkins County Jail Saturday afternoon on $25,000 bond.
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Monkey Shot After Biting Boy's Ear

Monkey attack

Saturday, 09 January 2010
The illegal importation of a monkey by a prominent Kingston businessman with strong political ties to the Government. reportedly forced the Ministry of Agriculture to issue a warning Friday against the illegal importation of such exotic animals. The monkey was reportedly being kept at a posh Upper St. Andrew residence over the Christmas period where persons frequently posed with it for photographs.  However, things turned ugly last week, leaving the businessman's family in a fit of worry. It is understood that the monkey, the businessman was forced to shoot the monkey after it bit into his son's ear. The worried family reportedly sent the monkey's brain overseas to be tested for communicable diseases. The Agriculture Ministry issued the warning against the illegal importation or purchasing of such animals as pets on Friday. In a release, the Ministry cautioned that exposure to monkeys may cause a number of illnesses including Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) which is a retrovirus closely related to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The potential for SIV induced disease in human is not clear, but because of the virus's close relationship to HIV and its ability to infect human tissues and blood, it should be considered hazardous.    Other illnesses potentially lethal to humans include Ebola-Reston, Cercopithecine Herpes Virus 1, Rabies, Tuberculosis, Measles, Influenza Viruses, Yellow Fever, Monkeypox and Viral Hepatitis (Hepatitis A, B, C). Individuals in possession of these animals are being asked to contact the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries' Veterinary Services Division or the nearest Veterinarian by February 15 for arrangements to be made for the safe removal and  management of these animals. Failure to do so will result in the full application of the law. In addition, persons who may have been in recent contact with a monkey are urged to contact their medical doctor, a medical officer or the Ministry of Health and Environment immediately, as they may have been exposed to infectious diseases. Source

Rangers Sold 96 Smuggled Monkeys Instead Of Releasing Them Into The Wild

I thought Rangers were "suppose" to be looking out for the animals best interest. Can't people just do the right thing anymore, instead of thinking of their own pocket books?

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VietNamNet Bridge – Forest rangers in the central province of Phu Yen on Monday sold 96 monkeys seized from smugglers earlier this week instead of releasing them into the wild.

Photo: TN

Vo Ngoc An, head of the Tuy Hoa Town Forest Ranger Agency, said the rangers sold the monkeys to Le Thanh Tuan, who owns a wildlife farm in Dong Hoa District, for VND31.3 million (US$1,695) in total.

The young long-tailed monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) had been confiscated by local police on Saturday. Early on Monday, An had told Thanh Nien the animals would be released.

When asked about the change, An said laws allow certain agencies to choose between selling animals confiscated from crime scenes to wildlife farms or return them to forests.

Vietnamese law limits the sale of long-tailed monkeys for commercial or exploitative purposes.

An did not say how the money made selling the monkeys would be used. While Tuan owns a farm that raises reptiles, he has been licensed by the Phu Yen Forest Ranger Agency to open a yet-tobe established monkey farm.

“We asked Tuan to commit to building the monkey farm and raising the monkeys [he just bought] for a long time and not selling them,” An said.

But Tuan told Thanh Nien he planned to sell the monkeys soon.

In the meantime, Tuy Hoa police had yet to apprehend the driver of the Toyota Innova in which the monkeys were found together with unregistered vehicle license plates.

The driver ran away while police were examining the car.

The smuggled monkeys seized from a car on Monday in the central province of Phu Yen. Local forest rangers have sold the 96 monkeys instead of releasing them into the wild.

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Experiments on Monkeys Will Continue At UW

On orders from Chancellor Biddy Martin, a UW-Madison committee on Friday took up a contentious issue on campus: Is it ethical to conduct experiments on monkeys?

Not surprisingly, the discussion that resulted hardly settled the question. Animal rights activists still contend that scientists shouldn't conduct experiments on monkeys that they deem too risky for humans.

Scientists still believe the research is ethical, given stringent internal and federal oversight. The committee, UW-Madison's All-Campus Animal Care and Use Committee, approved a statement to that effect Friday.

"All they did was defend the status quo," said Rick Marolt, a business consultant and lecturer in the university's School of Business who believes experiments on monkeys should end.

Marolt asked the committee to take up the ethics question in August. The committee deferred, arguing it wasn't the right body to handle the question, but the chancellor then stepped in to ask the committee to formally take up the issue.

However, Martin said she didn't think the university should follow Marolt's suggestion to create a separate campus body to consider the ethics of animal research.

In a November letter to Marolt, Martin said the debate "is not likely to plough new ground," arguing it should be pursued, if anywhere, on a national level.

"The general consensus within the scientific community is that research with non-human primates, when properly conducted, is consistent with scientific and ethical norms," she wrote. "The research aims at the university are clear - understanding the causes and developing treatments for the most devastating of human medical conditions."

At the meeting Friday, committee members said they review experiments on a case-by-case basis. Researchers must justify the use of animals and show they have minimized the potential for harm.

The discussion was particularly timely because of two recent federal inspections of UW-Madison's animal research facilities, one of which found 20 violations among the school's roughly 1,100 animal experiments and 52 facilities.

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Monkey Starves To Death at University of Washington National Primate Research Center

So, how long would it take for a monkey to starve to death do you think? Probably about the same amount of time as a human starving. How in the world could the people that are suppose to be "trained and experienced" forget to feed a monkey for so many days? Just think about how awful it was for that poor monkey to suffer day in and day out because he or she wasn't important enough to remember to feed! That's just AWFUL!!!! Isn't it horrible enough that these monkeys have to endure medical experiments, let alone not being fed. Three workers and one supervisor were disciplined, said center Director David Anders. What a smack on the hand? A talking to? What?

A quote- "But Anderson pointed out the university spent $38 million over the past few years to upgrade animal-care facilities." BUT what was this money spent on? More experimental equipment?, raises for the employees? or perhaps just regular maintenance that needed to be done. Obliviously, it wasn't spent on quality care!

Nona Phillips, director of UW's Office of Animal Welfare stated "This is very, very unusual", well something as simple as a routine chore such as feeding a monkey should have been just that... Routine. If they can't even remember to feed a monkey for days on end then I also have to wonder what else they are doing or NOT doing!

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By Sandi Doughton

Seattle Times science reporter

Staff at the University of Washington's National Primate Research Center allowed a monkey to starve to death last year.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection report says the male pigtailed macaque had lost a quarter of his body weight, and had not been weighed regularly as required by the university's own protocols.

Three workers and one supervisor were disciplined, said center Director David Anderson.

Nona Phillips, director of UW's Office of Animal Welfare, said the incident was "extremely upsetting."

"That's a bad thing to have happen," she said. "This is very, very unusual."

The death is the latest blow for animal research programs at the UW, which is one of the nation's top institutions in terms of biomedical funding from the National Institutes of Health.

In 1995, five baboons died of exposure or thirst at a UW primate-breeding center near Spokane. The center was later closed. Inspectors from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care found "serious deficiencies" in the university's animal-care facilities in 2006 and placed the university on probation. In 2008, UW was ordered to reimburse the federal government more than $20,000 for unauthorized surgeries performed on primates being used to study the relationship between the brain and eye movement.

The animal-rights organization Stop Animal Exploitation Now, which monitors all U.S. research centers, has targeted the UW for special scrutiny, said Executive Director Michael Budkie. "If they can't even keep the primates fed, you have to wonder what else is happening," Budkie said.

But Anderson pointed out the university spent $38 million over the past few years to upgrade animal-care facilities.

UW is now fully accredited, Phillips said. And the previous two USDA inspections of the primate center uncovered no problems.

Anderson said the center retrained its staff and changed procedures after the macaque died in April.

The 3 1/2-year-old monkey had recently been introduced into a new group of about 15 other macaques, Anderson said. The highly social creatures sometimes turn on newcomers, and staffers had been observing the animal several times a day to make sure that didn't happen. But even though dominant animals weren't beating up on the new arrival, they were apparently preventing him from sharing in food, Anderson said.

Animals mask infirmity to prevent being preyed on in the wild, so the macaque's weakened state was not obvious to observers, he added. UW's rules require all animals to be weighed every four weeks, which would have spotted the weight loss. The USDA report said the macaque hadn't been weighed for more than two months before his death. Anderson said it actually had been six weeks since the animal was weighed, but the lapse was nonetheless inexcusable.

The problem was traced to a change in staffing and confusion over responsibilities. Among the fixes instituted is a computer program that alerts supervisors as well as staff when an animal is overdue for attention, Anderson said.

The macaque was not being used for experimentation.

But the same USDA inspection noted a problem with two adult male baboons, being used for neurological studies. Cages were designed so that when the animals were on the perches where they usually sleep, they were unable to "sit upright in a normal manner" because of 2-inch-tall implants in their heads.

Anderson said the problem was corrected by lowering the perches.

The UW primate center's Web site says it is the largest of eight federal centers across the country. Facilities in Seattle house about 700 animals, mostly macaques and baboons. The university also operates primate-breeding colonies in Louisiana and Texas, with about 3,000 animals.

The primates are used in a wide range of research.

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Charles River Lab Was Only Fined 4500 for Killing a Monkey

There's not enough words to say how horrible this is. This lab, left a monkey in it's cage and then put it through the cage cleaner. A cage cleaner that disinfects and has water that would burn the skin right off of the monkey. It's a sterilizing washer for goodness sakes! Just think about the severe pain that that monkey went through because someone was irresponsible and couldn't see the monkey in the cage? How can anyone do such a thing? How can someone NOT notice a monkey in a cage that your going to put through a washer? The cages that these labs use are of minimal size so how can you miss a monkey in one?

As I have always said, The USDA does not regulate, fine or close down these types of facilities for the abuse, neglect and inhumane treatment of these primates because they are affiliated with them. It's hard to regulate yourself isn't it? To only fine a large organization that has millions of dollars only $4500, in my opinion, isn't even a small smack on the hand! That's all that monkeys life was worth?!!!!!!!
"humane and high quality care is a priority" was the companies statement, this a sure sign that that statement is false.


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An animal testing company has paid a $4,500 fine for killing a primate by leaving it in a cage before sending it through a cage cleaner last April in Reno, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday.

The amount for the macaque death killed at the Charles River Laboratories facility on Longley Lane facility is about half the $10,000 it paid the USDA after a May 28, 2008, incident in which severe heat led to the deaths of 32 primates in the company's lab on Dunn Circle in Sparks.

Dave Sacks, spokesman for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said no information was available on how the USDA determined the fine amount.

Amy Cianciaruso, associate director of public relations for Charles River, acknowledged Tuesday the laboratory had been fined for the incident last year but said she did not know the amount.

The incident was documented in a June inspection of the facility by the USDA and brought to light Tuesday by the animal advocacy group Stop Animal Exploitation Now!

The group charged commercial cage washers "sterilize the enclosures, meaning that this primate was literally boiled alive."

Cianciaruso acknowledged the macque died as a result of being put through the cage washer, but the specific cause of death was not determined.

"This unfortunate incident was the result of human error," Charles River said in a statement. "We have enhanced our quality control processes at the Reno facility and have implemented these best practices at all of our sites globally. We expect these actions will preclude the recurrence of a similar event."

The USDA report said Charles River workers twice signed off that there were no animals in the cage. They were supposed to check before a pre-cleaning and before putting the cage into the washer, the USDA report said.

"Since an animal died, the training was not of sufficient frequency to remind the people to thoroughly look for animals before having the cages washed," the report said. "This is important for the health and safety of all the animals."

The company said several human errors led to the animal's death. As a result of the laboratory's investigation, five additional preventive measures were added to the standard operating procedures to enhance communication among workers during the cage changeover. Cameras in the dirty cage staging area were added and practices were updated at all Charles River sites, the company said.

"Providing humane and high quality care is a priority for Charles River," the company statement said. "Our work is an essential component of the research that has led to new discoveries and has played a vital role in countless medical advances for humans as well as animals."

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Judge Rules That The 20,000 Exotic Animals That Were Seized Will Not Be Returned, Thanks To PETA

January 6, 2010 | 4:32 pm

More than 20,000 animals seized last month from a business that traded in exotic animals over the Internet will not be returned to the Texas-based company, U.S. Global Exotics -- at least, not if a Texas judge has anything to say about it.

Municipal Judge Michael Smith ruled Tuesday that Jasen and Vanessa Shaw, the owners of U.S. Global Exotics, should not be entrusted with the care of the animals, which included sloths, chinchillas, lemurs, hedgehogs, ferrets, snakes, turtles, lizards, amphibians and spiders. Instead, he granted custody of the animals to the city of Arlington, Texas, where U.S. Global Exotics is based. The SPCA of Texas is currently caring for them.

The animals were reportedly found in appalling conditions; hundreds of animals were found dead at the time of the raid, and approximately 4,000 died later. Jay Sabatucci, manager of animal services with the city of Arlington, reported finding animals that "were not fed, not fed properly, overcrowded and attacking each other. Some were in an environment not proper for them, such as snakes in a 72-degree room with a lamp over them, which is not enough heat and could cause them to die."

Howard Goldman, an undercover investigator working on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was a key figure in the investigation and the custody hearing that followed. Goldman worked at the U.S. Global Exotics facility for seven months and provided investigators with photographic evidence and undercover video of the company's operations.

An attorney for the Shaws, Lance Evans, had accused Goldman of purposely neglecting the animals in his care, saying the undercover investigator was "more concerned about helping PETA achieve its goal of putting U.S. Global out of business than actually aiding any animals that he felt were in distress."

PETA scoffed at the notion; the group's co-founder and president, Ingrid Newkirk, responded to Evans' allegations in an e-mail to the Associated Press, saying U.S. Global Exotics was attempting "to pin the blame for a litany of horrors on the one person who actually cared about the animals."

Goldman has said he was responsible for the care of 1,500 to 3,000 snakes at any one time during his employment at the company and testified that the Shaws refused to pay for necessities for the animals, including food and medical supplies. "We never had the proper amount of food. The snakes would go two or three weeks without even being offered food," he said in court. "There were days I found hundreds of snakes dead."

A post on PETA's blog describes some of Goldman's findings, including captured wild animals "kept for days or weeks in pillowcases, shipping boxes, or soda bottles without food or water or even proper heat and humidity," and tree frogs "kept for weeks on end at [U.S. Global Exotics] in soda bottles that were sitting in a cardboard box in the facility's washroom."

PETA alleges that many of the animals seized from the company "were destined for sale at major national chains such as PetSmart and PETCO," according to a statement released by the group.

Interestingly, Judge Smith noted in his ruling that some evidence heard during the hearing "indicated that this facility was operated in accordance with industry standards of the exotic animal trade ... While this may be true, this court is not free to substitute those standards for the standards set by Texas statutes."

Evans told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he expects his clients to appeal the ruling. "I believe neither the facts nor the law support a seizure of all 27,000-plus animals," he said; instead, he had asked in court that the animals for which there was no evidence of cruel treatment to be returned to the Shaws.

Pending the expected appeal from the Shaws, the city of Arlington plans to transfer ownership of the seized animals to the SPCA of Texas, the Star-Telegram reports. Since many of them were caught in the wild, they will not be put up for adoption, but instead will most likely be sent to zoos and sanctuaries with expertise in caring for exotic animals.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Source

Animals Used For Sacrifices Found In PA Home

Officers: Evidence Of Rituals Among Carcasses

PHILADELPHIA - SPCA officers made a gruesome discovery in Philadelphia's Hunting Park section on Sunday, including evidence of what it says were frightening rituals involving animal sacrifices.

Hundreds of animal bones were found at the home, and now police are getting involved.

Fox 29's Sean Tobin reported that SPCA officers were answering a routine call about two emaciated dogs when they arrived at the home on the 4800 block of North Front Street, not far from Roosevelt Boulevard.

The officers said the two dogs – a pit bull mix and a chow mix – were found alive. But they also found what was described as something out of a horror movie, including a graveyard of ram, sheep and monkey skulls, a turtle shell as well as chicken feathers covering the place.

Authorities believe as many as 100 animals may have been sacrificed at the home. Among the remains were satanic books, candles and buckets of blood.

Neighbors said they often heard drum music coming from the house. They thought it was salsa music but now they fear it was part of the rituals that may have involved those alleged animal sacrifices.

SPCA officials said they believe the dogs found locked inside were not meant to be part of the sacrifice rituals. Authorities said they seemed to be pets of the home's owner, who is in Mexico, where he is restricted from traveling to the United States due to an illness.

Source and News Video

Animals Found In PA Home Used For Suspected Animal Sacrifice

by KYW's Kim Glovas Officers from the Pennsylvania SPCA made a gruesome discovery on Sunday afternoon when they went to rescue two starving dogs from a home in the Feltonville section of Philadelphia. Officer Wayne Smith of the PSPCA says the agency first tried to contact the owner of the dogs on Christmas Eve, but got no response. Officers obtained a warrant to remove the dogs, but what they found was much more: "Throughout the house, there was skulls of rams, sheep, what appeared to be a monkey, turtle shells, numerous things. Chicken feathers covered the place, candles, sacrificing a lot of animals there." Two live but very emaciated dogs were removed and taken back to the PSPCA to be treated by veterinarians. Smith says he learned that the owner went to Mexico and contracted the swine flu and is not being allowed back into the country yet. He says when he does, the owner will face at the least animal cruelty charges. Officers also found a number of code violations which could condemn the property. Source

Animal Rights Groups Outraged At Sending Monkeys To Mars, Help PETA

Russian space chiefs want to send a monkey to Mars.

Although it will be looked after by a robot on the mission, the decision is sure to outrage animal rights groups.

The Russians will first experiment with a groundbased capsule. The goal is to put men on Mars and is likely to signal a new space race.

Zurab Mikvabia, director of the Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy in Georgia, admitted: "We have plans to return to space."

The Soviet Union last sent two monkeys into space in 1987 for medical tests.

Source

PETA HELP... New Experiments In Stages To Send Monkeys To Mars!!!! This Is Unbelievable!!!!!

Eghh.. I am too upset to even make a comment on this horrible horrible situation!!!!!

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Now, if the scientists at the Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy have their way, one of these furry apes could someday be plucked from its cage and sent on a pioneering mission to Mars.

"We have plans to return to space," declared Zurab Mikvabia, the director of this institute nestled in a lush forest on a hill overlooking the Black Sea coast of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of ex-Soviet Georgia.

Residents of the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi call this place the "monkey

nursery" and proudly recall how it produced groundbreaking medical research and raised two rhesus monkeys, Yerosha and Dryoma, sent into space in 1987.

But the institute fell on hard times after the collapse of the Soviet Union as Abkhazia fought a war to break free of Georgian control and fell into a long period of economic isolation.

Hundreds of apes died or disappeared during the 1992-93 war as Abkhaz separatists and Georgian troops fought over Sukhumi, an elegant seaside town famed as a resort in Soviet times.

"Many monkeys were shot. They were let out of their cages and just ran around the city," said Aldona, an institute employee who doubles as a tour guide for visitors.

Hunger and illness killed many more. There are now 350 apes, mostly baboons and macaques, confined in grim outdoor cages. The pre-war population was about 1,000 in Sukhumi plus thousands more at other branches of the institute.

At least a few dozen more monkeys are believed to be living in the wooded mountains of Abkhazia, descendants of a 1970s experiment where scientists released apes into the wild.

Testifying to the institute's glory days, a Soviet-era statue of a baboon stands in the central courtyard amid weeds and dry fountains.

In recent years, conditions for the apes have improved somewhat as Abkhazia enjoyed an investment boom, largely due to Russia, which recognised the region as an independent state in 2008 after a brief war with Georgia.

Only Nicaragua, Venezuela and the Pacific island nation of Nauru have joined Russia in recognising Abkhazia's independence, while the rest of the world considers it part of Georgia.

Mikvabia said the institute had improved the monkeys' diet and would soon start moving them from cages to large open-air enclosures where they would be able to run more freely.

"It's not normal to keep monkeys in small cages," said Mikvabia, a respected Abkhaz doctor who was appointed director of the institute in July.

As he smoked a pipe in his office, Mikvabia expressed his determination to bring serious science back to the institute after years when it essentially became a zoo for gawking tourists.

The institute is in preliminary talks with Russia's Cosmonautics Academy about preparing monkeys for a simulated Mars mission that could lay the groundwork for sending an ape to the Red Planet, Mikvabia said.

Such an initiative would build on Mars-500, a joint Russian-European project that saw six human volunteers confined in a capsule in Moscow for 120 days earlier this year to simulate a Mars mission.

"Earlier this programme was aimed at sending cosomonauts, people (to Mars)," Mikvabia said.

"But given the length of the flight to Mars, and given the cosmic rays for which we don't have adequate protection over such a long trip, discussions have focused recently on sending an ape instead of a person."

Estimates for the length of the journey to Mars vary depending on the type of mission envisioned, but the European Space Agency says its proposal for a round-trip mission would take 520 days, or about a year and a half.

If Russia pursues the idea of sending monkeys to Mars, Mikvabia's institute could become the site of an enclosed "biosphere" where apes would be kept for long periods to simulate spaceflights.

In a twist reminiscent of science fiction, the project would also include a robot designed to take care of the imprisoned ape.

"The robot will feed the monkey, will clean up after it. Our task will be to teach the monkey to cooperate with the robot," Mikvabia said.

History shows, however, that monkeys and technology can be a volatile combination.

Yerosha, perhaps the institute's best-known ape, freed a paw on his 13-day spaceflight in 1987 and started fiddling with buttons and tearing sensors off his body, much to the consternation of scientists on the ground.

Today's mission planners are determined to prevent such monkey business on the much longer and costlier trip to Mars.

"Technicians have told us that it's not difficult to build such a robot," Mikvabia said. "The hard part is teaching the monkey to live with the robot."

Source

Serial Killer Uses Monkey To Lure Young Women To Their Death

Here is another example of how horrible our legal system is, as with the Travis the Chimpanzee attack case. This man did this crime in 1991 and has just now been convicted! What about the poor families that have lost loved ones and have had to wait soooo many years to see justice served? This is awful!

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SERIAL killer Peter Tobin used a monkey to lure young girls into his evil clutches.

And it is feared the monster may have used the evil ploy to commit many more murders.

Tobin lived in Brighton, East Sussex, through the 1980s and 90s.

A source told the Daily Star Sunday

last night: “He would wander along the beach

with the monkey on his shoulder and made

a bee-line for pretty girls.

“He was charming and even good-looking.

But if you looked closely, his eyes were cold

and menacing. Thinking about it still makes

me shudder.”

And a former café waitress in the resort

said: “Tobin would often come in and he

would always be with a young girl half his age.

“He usually had a monkey on his shoulder

and the animal would be the centre of

attention. I now know that he used it to

hide his sinister side. I dread to think

what happened to the girls who were

taken in by this trick.”

Tobin, 63, will spend the rest of his life

in jail after being found guilty last week

of drugging and strangling Dinah McNicol,

18, in 1991.

She vanished while hitch-hiking home

to Tillingham, Essex, after leaving a music

festival in Liphook, Hampshire.

She was buried near one of Tobin’s former

homes in Margate, Kent.

He had already been convicted of the

killings of Vicky Hamilton, 15, of Redding,

Stirlingshire, and Polish student

Angelika Kluk, 23.

Tobin, from Johnstone in Renfrewshire,

once bragged to a prison psychiatrist

about killing 48 women – then sneered:

“Prove it.”

Source and Photograph of Serial Killer

Cops Are Now Investigating Animal Cruelty Towards Lo Wung In Monkey Performance

Good!

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ANGRY monkeys dished out a punishment to a cruel trainer – beating him senseless with his own stick.

The three went ape when their owner handed out a vicious beating to one monkey during a performance.

He had been trying to make the trio ride mini bicycles in a market in eastern China.

One mad monkey twisted the trainer's ears, another pulled his hair out in handfuls and bit his neck.

Then when the keeper dropped his cane, the third snatched it up and started whacking him around the head – until the stick broke.

Dazed and confused, the trainer confessed: "They were once wild and these performances don't always come naturally to them.

"They may have built up some feelings of hatred towards me."

Cops are now investigating allegations of animal cruelty and may confiscate the monkeys.

Source and other photographs

Lo Wung, A Monkey Trainer Gets Beat Up By His Monkeys

Well this may sound nasty, though the trainer, in my opinion got what he deserved! Though, at the end, unfortunately the trainer got the upper hand. I guess the monkeys were tired of his abuse and decided to fight back. Monkeys can be very dangerous also, so I would say that this trainer was extremely lucky that they didn't outright attack him, though in my opinion, they should have. The trainer doing what he did to these monkeys in the public, imagine what they have to endure while not in the public. Don't they have any laws for animal welfare there?

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Lo Wung, 42, got a taste of his own medicine after teaching a group of monkeys some basic taekwondo moves Photo: CEN

Lo Wung, 42, taught the monkeys so they could entertain crowds outside a shopping centre in Nshi, in eastern China's Hubei province.

But the money-spinning primates turned the tables on their trainer when he slipped during a show, with one quick-thinking monkey flooring him with a kick to the head.

Hu Luang, 32, a bystander who photographed the incident, said: "I saw one punch him in the eye - he grabbed another by the ear and it responded by grabbing his nose. They were leaping and jumping all over the place. It was better than a Bruce Lee film."

At one point the monkey trainer grabbed a staff to hit the monkeys, only to find himself facing a stick-brandishing monkey that cracked him over the head.

He only managed to get the monkeys under control by tangling them up in the rope that had been used to stop them running off.

Mr Hu said: "He was really furious, he made the monkeys kneel on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs to punish them and make them show remorse for their nasty attack."

Source

Another story-

ANGRY monkeys dished out a punishment to a cruel trainer – beating him senseless with his own stick.

The three went ape when their owner handed out a vicious beating to one monkey during a performance.

He had been trying to make the trio ride mini bicycles in a market in eastern China.

One mad monkey twisted the trainer's ears, another pulled his hair out in handfuls and bit his neck.

Then when the keeper dropped his cane, the third snatched it up and started whacking him around the head – until the stick broke.

Dazed and confused, the trainer confessed: "They were once wild and these performances don't always come naturally to them.

"They may have built up some feelings of hatred towards me."

Cops are now investigating allegations of animal cruelty and may confiscate the monkeys.

Source and other photographs

Mamie Manneh Tried To Sneak In 720Lbs of Monkey Meat And Has 11 Prior Arrests

Where has our legal system gone? So many wrong things about this. This woman sounds as though she is very sick and shouldn't be a member of society. Her poor children.

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A federal judge sentenced a Staten Island mother of eight to probation for smuggling monkey meat into the country.

Citing her large family — and three other children she is currently raising in her home — Federal Judge Raymond Dearie ruled that Mamie Manneh shouldn't be put behind bars for illegally trying to sneak 720 pounds of bushmeat including limbs, skulls and torsos from baboons and green monkeys in boxes labeled "African dresses and smoked fish" through customs three years ago. "If you do it again, whether you have 11 children or 32, you will not be spared a federal prison sentence," the judge warned.

Manneh, who has 11 prior arrests including one for running over her husband's suspected mistress with an SUV, argued it was her Constitutional right to bring monkey meat into the United States. Her lawyers claimed she needed to eat monkey during certain religious ceremonies for her syncretic faith, which merges Christian and African traditions. A judge shot down those arguments, stating that Manneh should have applied for the necessary permits to import exotic foods. Prosecutors — and even renowned monkey expert Jane Goodall — said Manneh should be put behind bars for as long as 27 months.

Source