NIH strikes again with research on a sick monkey

These people are so full of shit that they wouldn't know the truth if it smacked them in the face. Perhaps in their next life they can be a monkey at the NIH. Now there's a sweet thought! Why in the world do we need to test for the diseases they are tested them for? We don't live in Africa or any other country!!!! You people suck!!!!

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The federal government has cited UC Davis for using a monkey in research studies despite evidence that it was in poor health.

The monkey had gastrointestinal problems, vomited frequently, was losing hair on its arms and legs and had a wound on its genitals.

After the monkey had been used in three studies, UC Davis veterinarians questioned whether it was well enough to be used for more research, the report states. The lab decided to place the monkey in a fourth study, the report says, "despite the progressive worsening of medical and behavior problems that lead to unnecessary discomfort, distress and pain to that animal."

The report also cites UC Davis for inadequately documenting the monkey's veterinary care. The monkey was euthanized in September 2008.

The report was made public last week after the federal government denied an appeal by UC Davis, which argued that the monkey was in good enough shape to be used in the studies.

"Our institution does not consider this combined research usage excessive for an animal that was (about) six years old," says the letter of appeal written by UC Davis veterinarian Victor Lukas.

The government's report is based on a November 2009 inspection of records at the California National Primate Research Center, a UC Davis lab that houses 6,000 monkeys used in research on malaria, HIV, asthma, allergies, Alzheimer's and autism.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture inspected records related to the monkey's care upon request by an animal rights organization that reviewed the monkey's death report.

"It was very clear that this animal had gone through what was a horrible life," said Michael Budkie, an Ohio activist who opposes the use of animals in scientific research.

UC Davis spokesman Andy Fell said the university is appealing the government's findings a second time.

"All animals at the primate center receive regular health checks and they receive excellent care," Fell said. "Animal research is well regulated by federal law. We think we do it humanely, and it produces useful insight into human and animal medicine."
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Yeah right!!!!!

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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Pam Anderson wants the AIIMS to release monkeys to sanctuary

NEW DELHI: Hollywood actress Pamela Anderson wants to rescue animals allegedly caged inside the AIIMS animal facility. Claiming to have watched video footage taken secretly inside AIIMS, she has shot off a letter to institute director Dr R C Deka, urging him to retire the 'ageing' monkeys to a sanctuary and switch over to modern and humane non-animal research and training methods.

In the letter - sent on behalf of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA) - Anderson alleges that many of the monkeys at AIIMS have been languishing in cramped and rusty cages for nearly a decade and that one monkey has been exposed to these harsh conditions for nearly 20 years. AIIMS officials denied that any such letter was received and claimed that the animal facility is 'state of the art'.

More than 40 monkeys and several other animals, including rabbits, mice and guinea pigs, are caged inside the central animal facility at the institute and are used in trials for development of new drugs. Sources said the monkeys were brought for research on human contraceptives several years ago.

"It broke my heart to see the suffering that is documented in the enclosed video. The animals suffering behind closed doors at AIIMS must endure this nightmare every day. I was shocked to see that rabbits are forced to live in wire-floored cages; the sharp wire digs into their sensitive footpads and can cause their feet to get stuck," writes Anderson.

She says that the animals exhibit signs of severe distress. "A monkey is shown climbing the walls and ceiling of the cage in an endless loop, and a rat is shown spinning compulsively. Sick and injured animals, including rabbits, suffering from an infectious skin disease, and rats with wounds, are denied veterinary care. A worker roughly overturns the rat enclosures in order to clean them, slamming the animals inside, including a mother rat desperately trying to protect her newborn babies, against the wire bars," Anderson has written in her one-page letter.

"Please, won't you at least agree to retire the animals that have been at AIIMS the longest to a sanctuary?" she adds. Animal activists from India have often raised the issue of ill-treatment of animals at AIIMS. They claim that the stress of loneliness and lengthy confinement has taken a toll on the animal's psychological health also.

AIIMS spokesperson Dr Y K Gupta said he has no knowledge of any letter written to the AIIMS administration by Pamela Anderson. "Our institute strictly follows the guidelines of the Committee for Purpose of Control and Supervision on Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), ministry of environment and forests," he said. Gupta said while the monkeys are used by the reproductive biology department, the rats are needed for trials on new drugs for diseases like epilepsy as well as for strokes. He said that animal trial is a must for development of any new drug. Monkeys mimic the human model - immunity and acceptance of any drug - best. According to the CPCSEA rules, no animal should be used for experimentation for more than three years unless there is a proper justification. At AIIMS, the authorities have created rehabilitation facilities for such animals, the AIIMS official said.
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Research being done on monkeys by institutions like the UW are morally unjustifiable

UW brings in true monkey research foe, Dr. Lawrence Hansen
Bill Lueders on Thursday 02/17/2011

Last year, the UW-Madison beat back a Dane County Board resolution calling for an advisory panel to explore the ethics of primate research, much to the disappointment of local monkey defenders (see Rick Marolt's opinion column, 10/14/10). Instead, the university agreed to host a series of forums, which many predicted would be a bust.

But the first of those forums, set for Thursday, Feb. 17, at the new Institutes for Discovery, 7 p.m., presents a prominent critic of primate research. "I'm extremely pleased they have selected him," says local animal-rights activist Ann Emerson.

Dr. Lawrence Hansen, an eminent neuroscientist at UC-San Diego, finds much of the research being done on monkeys by institutions like the UW morally unjustifiable. Regarded as a leading Alzheimer's researcher, Hansen says most of the Alzheimer's research being done using primates is as pointless as it is cruel.

Last summer, Hansen wrote a letter in support (PDF) of the County Board resolution, saying this is an area in which the scientists involved are simply too biased to perform the necessary ethical assessment of their work.

Dr. Eric Sandgren, the UW's top overseer of animal research, says the panel that picked the speakers knows there aren't many "middle of the road" thinkers on this topic and thus is eager to present divergent views. "It's exactly what we wanted."

Dawn Crim, the UW's director of community relations, sent an email to County Board members touting the series, saying, "we hope you will come out and participate in the discussion."

Supv. Al Matano, the main sponsor of the failed resolution, notes the irony of that, since Hansen's speech Thursday conflicts with another event in his life: the regularly scheduled meeting of the Dane County Board.
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Air Canada is shipping lab monkeys in cargo holds of planes

A UK-based animal advocacy group is taking Air Canada to task for allegedly shipping lab monkeys in the cargo holds of planes.

Sarah Kite, a spokesman for BUAV — an advocacy group campaigning to end animal experiments — said Sunday that a whistle-blower at Pearson International Airport complained the airline flew 48 monkeys from China to Toronto over the weekend.

“We’re calling on Air Canada to stop shipping monkeys,” Kite said. “It’s a very cruel industry and Air Canada is playing a very key role.”

Kite alleged the monkeys travelled as cargo from the Chinese capital of Beijing to Toronto on Saturday and were kept in crates for 15 hours after their arrival before being flown to Montreal.

Kite said the monkeys are believed to be headed to a research laboratory in Laval, QC.

Air Canada spokesperson John Reber said the airline will not comment on the nature of its cargo shipments.

Many airlines such as British Airways, United Airlines and Qantas Airways have stopped shipping monkeys, said Kite.
She sent a letter on behalf of BUAV to Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu requesting that the airline join the group.
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Four Monkeys will be tortured by UBC during experiments for Parkinson's Disease

This is a poor excuse for getting funding for a disease that humans get, and monkeys have to pay the price?

No one has actually, scientifically, found that monkeys are good subjects. It's ridiculous! Like I always say, ask the street people or cons on death row if they would like to participate in exchange for an extended life, food and shelter.

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Activists want to buy four monkeys slated to die in Parkinson’s research

By Ian Austin, Postmedia News January 17, 2011 VANCOUVER — Anne Birthistle wants to save four rhesus monkeys from the University of British Columbia’s death row.

Birthistle, a researcher for Stop UBC Animal Research, wants to “adopt” the research monkeys by offering to buy the animals before they are killed as part of Experiment LS91.

Documents obtained by the Vancouver Province show that the four monkeys are to be injected with substances intended to duplicate Parkinson’s disease in humans, then “sacrificed” for testing to show the effects.

Under the heading, “Proteasome inhibition, aging and Parkinson’s Disease,” the Triumf-Life Sciences Report’s proposed project calls for the four rhesus macaque monkeys to be injected, scanned, and eventually “sacrificed for neuropathology . . . Neuropathological analyses will be performed post-mortem.”
Not if Birthistle and her group have their way.

“Stop UBC Animal Research will launch an ‘adopt a monkey’ campaign where we are prepared to pay for every monkey at UBC,” said Birthistle. “We want UBC to release them to us so that we can turn them over to a primate sanctuary where they can live out their days in peace and comfort.
“We don’t need to do research on animals,” said Birthistle. “We have computer modelling and technology, and human tissue samples.”
Birthistle said her group will pay “whatever it takes” to purchase the lab monkeys, so that they can be turned over to the Fauna Foundation and live out their lives.

John Hepburn, a chemical physicist who is UBC’s vice-president of research and international, didn’t dispute Birthistle’s version of the research.
“Roughly speaking, I think that’s correct,” Hepburn said of the characterization of injecting, scanning and euthanizing the monkeys.

“I’m not sure that it has been funded. I don’t think it has been approved or funded.”

But Hepburn said the research proposal has to been taken into context — Parkinson’s disease is a fatal illness with no known cure.

“This is research into Parkinson’s disease, which is a serious disease that kills a lot of people,” said Hepburn. “Research of this type does require the use of animals.”

“In order to do this research, the researchers would have to convince a group of international experts in Parkinson’s disease that this research is worthwhile.
“After that, they need to get approval from the UBC animal care committee that this research is being done humanely.”
Vancouver Province
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Amerijet airlines letter to ARFF in regards to transporting monkeys to lab

Last month, we told you about a letter from local animal rights activists to Amerijet, a Fort Lauderdale-based cargo airline, asking the company to shop shipping primates used for research -- specifically the ones used for controversial vivisection experiments. Several South Florida groups, including the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, have written to the airline and organized protests outside company headquarters.

Now Amerijet has responded -- in the form of a letter written to Nanci Alexander, president of ARFF (and owner of Sublime, a gourmet vegetarian restaurant on Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale).

From their letter, it seems the decisionmakers at Amerijet will not be canceling their monkey flights anytime soon. "We have carefully considered the position taken by our organization," the letter reads. "However we stand by our decision to transport animals and will continue in the future to serve the needs of our customers for animal transport."
The company says it will continue the primate shipments because, as the letter states, "to refuse to provide transportation services requested of us does not respect our customers' right to engage in lawful pursuits and is inconsistent with our values as a company."

​At one point, Amerijet claims that it would "decline to do business with potential customers that are under investigation by governments or other enforcement bodies for failing to meet legal standards or international conventions." Of course, after several disturbing photos of injured monkeys leaked last year, the USDA announced it would investigate one of Amerijet's most controversial customers, the South Florida-based research facility Primate Products. But despite the company's claims, so far it seems Amerijet's business with Primate Products continues as usual.

The letter also contains a plea for ARFF to condemn some of the tactics used by animals rights activists. Though there are no specific tactics mentioned in the letter, there is an insinuation that some violate national terrorism laws:

​"Unfortunately, we believe the tactics that have been engaged in or that are planned for the near future by some individuals or groups that have targeted Amerijet are the sort of animal rights extremist actions that federal laws, including the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, are intended to protect law-abiding citizens against -- including our employees and customers."

Representatives from ARFF say they are crafting a letter to respond to Amerijet.

"The number of airlines that continue to transport monkeys for research is shrinking," says Don Anthony, ARFF's communications director. "We're disappointed that Amerijet is determined to be the last American airline to import monkeys to be used in cruel laboratory experiments. The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida will continue to protest Amerijet's involvement in this cruel trade."

Sunday night, a few days after receiving the letter, about 30 local activists gathered at the home of one of Amerijet's executives for a peaceful protest.

This is the Amerijet letter in its entirety:


Dear Ms. Alexander,

Your organization has called upon Amerijet to refuse to transport primates that may be used in research. We have carefully considered the position taken by our organization. However we stand by our decision to transport animals and will continue in the future to serve the needs of our customers for animal transport. We would like to explain briefly the reasons for our decision.
First, we value and respect our customers. We pride ourselves on providing the highest quality of transportation services for those who have entrusted their shipping needs to us. Just as importantly, we believe in the right of any business or individual to engage in lawful endeavors of their own choosing. To refuse to provide transportation services requested of us does not respect our customers' right to engage in lawful pursuits and is inconsistent with our values as a company.

At Amerijet we strive to comply with all laws, regulations and international conventions that apply to out business, including those relating to the transportation of live animals. Transporting live animals by air is considered to be the most humane and expedient method of transporting animals over long distances, so long as the laws, rules and conventions applying to animal transport are met.

We expect our customers also to make every effort to meet the legal and international standards that concern the welfare of animals transport. We have in the past declined to do business with costumers who were under investigation by government or other enforcement bodies for violations of law or international conventions. We will continue to transport animals for all lawful purposes. We commit to you, however, that we will make every effort to ensure that we are transporting animals for customers that are in turn complying with all legal requirements concerning the welfare of those animals, and will decline to do business with potential customers that are under investigation by governments or other enforcement bodies for failing to meet legal standards or international conventions.

Finally, we are sharing these thoughts with ARFF because we believe ARFF attempts, as we do here at Amerijet, to be a responsible and lawful corporate citizen. We also believe that ARFF respects that individuals and entities will not always agree and that we each are entitled to hold our own views and opinions without fear of physical harm or damage to property because of those views.

Unfortunately, we believe the tactics that have been engaged in or that are planned for the near future by some individuals or groups that have targeted Amerijet are the sort of animal rights extremist actions that federal laws, including the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, are intended to protect law-abiding citizens against - including our employees and customers. We have made the decision to continue to transport animals after careful consideration, and we will not be deterred by what we consider to be unlawful threats, harassment or intimidation of our employees or customers or acts of vandalism or property damage. Instead, we are prepared to defend our employees, our customers, and our business to the full extent of the law.

You have called upon us to consider our position regarding transporting animals, and we have done so thoughtfully and believe we have responded to you honestly and forthrightly despite our differences of opinion. We now ask you to consider the actions and anticipated actions of individuals and groups that ARFF appears to have aligned itself with against Amerijet. We call upon you to publicly denounce any tactic that may intimidate, harass, or cause fear among our employees or our customers simply because they do not agree with those who hold a contrary view. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

David G. Bassett

CEO, Amerijet International, Inc.
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Amerijet stated that the airline will not be cancelling flights bringing monkeys in for experiments!

"providing a humane service for the animals" this is the quot from the airlines. Well, what about the humane treatment of their destination?

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Amerijet has rejected a plea from an animal rights group to stop transporting monkeys headed for research labs and vivisection experiments.

Their position makes the Fort Lauderdale-based company the only airline in the country to import research monkeys.

Last month Animal Rights Foundation of Florida wrote to Amerijet requesting that the cargo airline change its policy about transporting primates used for research and vivisection. The group also staged a peaceful protest with 30 of its supporters outside the company’s headquarters.

Now ARFF has received a letter from Amerijet stating the airline will not be canceling their “monkey flights” anytime soon and threatened the organization with legal action under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act if they continue to target the airline.
The correspondence from David G. Bassett, CEO of Amerijet International , Inc. said, “Your organization has called upon Amerijet to refuse to transport primates that may be used for research. We have carefully considered the position taken by our organization. However we stand by our decision to transport animals and will continue in the future to serve the needs of our customers for animal transport.”

Bassett also pointed out, “to refuse to provide transportation services requested of us does not respect our customers’ right to engage in lawful pursuits.”

The airline alluded that it has in the past stopped working with businesses that are under investigation by “governments or other enforcement bodies for failing to meet legal standards or international conventions.”

But when Amerijet received notification that one of their clients, Primate Products was under investigation by the USDA for injuring several monkeys, the company continued to do business with them, as usual.

Amerjet refers to themselves as law-abiding citizens who are providing a humane service for the animals they transport because flying them to their destinations is the most “expedient method of transporting animals over long distances.”

The airline does not acknowledge that they are flying these animals to research labs or that they are involved in a cruel trade.
Amerijet’s decision comes as a setback after the good news last week when the National Institutes of Health announced it had stopped the transfer of 186 chimpanzees to a biomedical laboratory in Texas.
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Testing on Monkeys has provided a gel used in AIDS

SO.... Does this mean that they infected each one of these monkeys with the virus first? How horrible!!!!!

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US researchers this week said the gel used an Aids drug along with a zinc compound and protected all animals tested from infection with the monkey version of HIV.

The results were published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.

It "afforded full protection (21 of 21 animals) for up to 24 hours after two weeks of daily application," the researchers write. The gel uses a small amount of active drug and is both safe and cheap, said the Population Council in New York, which led the study.

The study joins a growing body of experiments that are beginning to show progress in preventing the spread of Aids.

Melissa Robbiani of the Population Council, who worked with the US's National Cancer Institute and other laboratories to test the gel, said the intention was to now start tests on people.

In July last year, researchers found that a similar gel, using the Aids drug tenofovir, reduced HIV infections in women by 39% over 30 months.

Nonprofit groups are also moving ahead to develop the gel, with the US Food and Drug Administration also wanting to fast-track its roll-out.

"It is like a positive domino effect," said Bethany Young Holt, director of the Coalition Advancing Multipurpose Innovations, a US women's health research and advocacy group and an expert on microbicides, gels, creams and other products that protect against infection.
Most infections with the Aids virus are in Africa and most new cases are among women infected during sex with men.

A microbicide could help protect against HIV while allowing a woman to get pregnant, and, if necessary, she could use the product without even letting her partner know.

"Just the idea of having a product that a woman could use to address the issue of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease as well, that would be an enormous benefit to women," Holt said.

The product does not prevent pregnancy but researchers are working on a combined gel or a vaginal ring that will include a contraceptive.

The drug used in the Population Council product, MIV-150, was developed by Swedish company Medivir.

Like other HIV drugs, it blocks the virus from reproducing. MIV-150 specifically stops infected cells from spewing out new viruses.

MIV-150 is not available as a pill. The Population Council said this was an advantage because it would not reduce a woman's options for treatment later if she did become infected.
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University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has mutilated, tortured and burned animals, including isolating a monkey

This is a horrible horrible story. I have to wonder if these people that have done this to the animals even have a soul, heart or conscience! It really is a shame that our country doesn't have laws that say that once convicted of a horrible crime like this, the same things are done to them as they have done to the animals. I personally would like to get a hold of some of these people that have done this. Those poor animals to have suffered soooooo much before their death!  Do these idiots think that they feel no pain!!!!!!!  Imagine, if they have children and what they will become and how they are treated. What are they teaching the students that animals don't count!!!!! This is an awful crime of humanity!!!!!
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Animals Mutilated, Burned at University of Texas Lab
Opinion by PETA

(16 Hours Ago) in Society / Animal Rights
A whistleblower at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) has contacted PETA to report horrifying—and potentially illegal—abuses of dogs, sheep, monkeys, mice, and other animals who were tormented for experiments in the school's laboratories.

The insider reported that as a result of experiments in which dogs were cut open and had tubes surgically implanted in their colons, one dog died during surgery and another suffered in pain and died when staff members didn't provide post-operative painkillers.

UTMB experimenters also induced spinal cord and nerve damage in sheep, and in one instance, a sheep apparently couldn't stand for three days following surgery and was given no pain relief. Mice apparently died from dehydration, and a monkey was locked in a room all by himself, even though monkeys require social contact with other members of their species to maintain sanity and physical health.

In other procedures conducted in this hellhole, experimenter Daniel Traber subjected sheep, pigs, and mice to third-degree burns on up to 40 percent of their bodies by searing off their skin with a Bunsen burner or a scorching-hot metal rod and forced the animals to inhale smoke.

PETA has filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture calling for an immediate investigation into these disturbing allegations. You can help by sending an e-mail to UTMB President David L. Callender urging him to investigate and discipline those responsible for abusing animals.

Written by Michelle Sherrow
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55 Macaque Monkeys go from experimental lab to Sanctuaries

Aug 2010
In Defense of Animals, an international animal protection and rescue organization came to the aid of 55 macaque monkeys that have been the victims of a bureaucratic struggle since April when AniClin Laboratories in Oxford, New Jersey went into bankruptcy. The monkeys were used by the toxicology lab in experiments, along with 118 beagles.

IDA coordinated a 1,700-mile rescue mission to deliver the monkeys to primate sanctuaries where they tasted freedom for the first time in their lives.

When IDA President, Scotlund Haisley received a desperate plea to help the macaque monkeys, he pledged the support of his organization. The lab the monkeys came from had been repeatedly cited by the USDA for Animal Welfare Act violations. They were used in experiments that ranged from brain lesions, invasive brain studies, Ebola virus, stroke, plague and drug-induced seizure.

“These young monkeys would have been subjected to decades behind bars in cramped stainless steel cages, forced to endure painful toxicology tests,” said Haisley. “Now they will have a life filled with fresh air, friends and freedom from harm.”

The rescue of the lab animals began after New York –based animal activist Camille Hankins from Win Animal Rights, received an anonymous tip from a former AniClin employee. Care2 blogger Megan Drake wrote about the ordeal in her story, “Dogs and Primates Freed from Lab this Independence Day Weekend!” She reported how the animals were trapped inside the lab after it closed and that former employees were scaling the fences to feed and take care of the beagles and monkeys.

IDA intervened to save the animals by sending their “pro bono” attorney Kathryn Flood, to negotiate their release. And with the hard work of Hankins, IDA and other activist groups all of the dogs and monkeys were released in early July. The beagles were placed in several animal rescue shelters and IDA stepped forward to transport the monkeys to primate sanctuaries.

In a project that cost more than $25,000 and covered more than 1,700 miles, IDA staff and volunteers delivered eight of the macaques to their new home at Mindy’s Memory Sanctuary in Newcastle, OK. Then the transport traveled to Texas where Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, Primarily Primates, and Born Free USA welcomed the remaining monkeys.

By the end of last week all of the monkeys were safe in their new homes. They are free from the small stainless steel cages where they were confined for years, living in isolation from each other.
In his blog on the IDA website Haisley had this to say about the monkeys’ first taste of freedom. “I wish you had been there with me to witness the monkeys experiencing the outside world for the first time. Upon entering their new habitats they brushed their hands through the green grass, the wind blowing through their fur, and they stared up into the sun, taking in the immense blue sky for the first time. They had been held in cruel solitary confinement, deprived of crucial relationships with their own species. They are now beginning to bond with one another and form the intimate, complex relationships that come naturally to these social animals,” wrote Haisley.
Story Credit Here and Video

How do you feel about animals?- domestic and exotic- Take the survey (chimp)

Hi Readers;
I received a comment this morning asking if I would participate in a survey. I did of course. If you would like your opinion to count please follow the link to the survey at the bottom. I think it's a great idea to have the students do this survey. It is educational in regards to the subject as well as being apart of something important.  They ask your opinions on zoos, experimental labs, circus's, exotics as pets, etc. Surveys are really the only way to see how the public thinks about our animals. Please join in, it only took me a few minutes.
"We are students at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, conducting a survey on attitudes towards animals. Please answer these questions according to your own opinion - there are no "wrong" or "correct" answers."

Your answers will be completely confidential and will only be used for the purposes of the survey.

To take the survey here

NASA halts plans of radiation on monkeys

Who cares about MARS? We spent billions of dollars to step on the moon, where has that gotten us? An alternative to earth? NOT

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BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. — A NASA-run facility on the campus of Long Island's Brookhaven National Laboratory has halted plans for research on squirrel monkeys.

Newsday says animal-welfare activists and schoolchildren had opposed blasting the monkeys with radiation.

The proposed $1.75 million project was aimed at learning how a space voyage to Mars might affect the brain.
Full Story Here

PETA Wants NASA To Stop Radiation Tests On Monkeys

Gosh didn't NASA learn ANYTHING from using Chimpanzees in research? Look where and how their lives ended up. 

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PETA Calls On Space Agency to Ground Cruel and Wasteful Tests and Use 21st Century Research Methods Instead
For Immediate Release:
January 20, 2010
Contact:
Holly Beal 757-622-7382
Huntsville, Ala. -- Wearing monkey masks while locked inside small cages and holding signs that read, "No Tax $ for Animal Abuse" and "Stop Radiation Tests on Monkeys," four PETA members will lead a protest outside Marshall Space Flight Center over the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) plan to subject as many as 28 squirrel monkeys to a massive dose of gamma radiation. After exposing the monkeys to the radiation, NASA plans to subject the animals to years of additional laboratory experiments in order to observe how the radiation affects their brains and bodies. Monkeys used in earlier radiation experiments conducted by the government have suffered from fatal types of cancer, including brain tumors. They have also suffered from cataracts, cognitive decline, and other conditions.
When:   Thursday, January 21, 12 noon
Where:  Marshall Space Flight Center, 1 Tranquility Base, Huntsville
"NASA prides itself on looking to the future, but when it comes to crude and cruel animal experiments, the agency is stuck in the Dark Ages," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "Monkeys are highly social, sensitive, and intelligent animals. Harming them in experiments so that NASA can check off another item on its seemingly endless list of questions about outer space is unjustifiable, especially when modern, humane research methods exist."
Because of the biological differences between species, results of radiation experiments on monkeys cannot be reliably applied to humans. In a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., PETA pointed out that NASA could study humans who have been to space and also could rely on modern research methods, including the use of human tissue cultures that would yield results relevant to humans--something that animal experiments cannot do.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.

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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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