IDA Blog

Vivisection

As you read these words, I am at a toxicology laboratory in New Jersey leading the In Defense of Animals Rescue Team in an operation that defines my vision of a world with no cages. Recently 55 macaque monkeys and 118 beagles became “seized assets” when the lab went out of business and their fates changed forever. These animals were facing a life in prison-like cells and days full of unspeakable cruelty and isolation. That was until the moment I heard of this dismal situation – I made a promise to each of these innocent animals that IDA would shepherd them out of confinement and misery and into a new world of comfort and love.

I am happy to report to you all that the 118 beagles have already been relocated and today the 55 monkeys will begin their journey to four safe havens in Oklahoma and Texas. The future for these monkeys will be filled with fresh air, friends, and freedom from harm.

You only need to watch this video to see how important this mission is. (no graphic content)

This is long journey. We will post more videos and photos in coming days. They will travel about 1,700 miles to reach the sanctuaries where they will begin their new lives. We hope you will join us as we take these monkeys to their new homes and forever out of the reach of those who would exploit and torture them. Through your generous donations we will not only meet our commitment to these monkeys, but I believe we can free an unprecedented number of animals awaiting rescue from labs and other abusive environments and the misery and exploitation inflicted upon them. It is my hope that this will be just one more step in making a world without cages and one more victory for compassion over cruelty.

On May 8, activists around the world will join IDA and Uncaged(a UK animal protection organization) for the 14^th annual “Global Boycott Procter & Gamble Day.” Why boycott Procter & Gamble?  For years, P&G has tested its products on animals while, at the same time, secretly opposing EU legislation that would phase out animal testing and manipulating the public by offering misleading, often contradictory, statements on its own testing.

Maybe you are already boycotting P&G, or perhaps you are wondering why you’ve never heard of the global company… Either way, a quick look at P&G’s website – www.pg.com – will show you just how absolutely gargantuan a corporate giant can become. P&G is an industry leader in household, health, and beauty products – owning such brands as Bounty, Downy, Febreeze, Swiffer, Pampers, Puffs, Mr. Clean, Crest, Oral-B, Pepto Bismol, Tampax, Vicks, Scope, CoverGirl, Herbal Essences, Head & Shoulders, Ivory, Old Spice, Pantene, Olay, Gillette, Zest, and even Dolce & Gabbana. A full list is available <here. Pet food brands owned by P&G, like IAMS and Eukanaba, are responsible for keeping dogs and cats in cages for years on end in order to test experimental pet food formulas. According to a May 5^th press release, P&G recently acquired Natura Pet Products, which owns the pet food brands Karma, Innova, Evo, Healthwise, and California Naturals. The public outcry surrounding the issue of pet food testing has forced P&G to create whitewashing sites like www.iamsagainstcruelty.com to distract from the animal cruelty in its own laboratories.

It is for this reason that our outreach is so important. This Saturday, May 8, activists around the world will take to the streets – and the stores – to educate consumers on the price animals pay for P&G’s products. For more information on participating in this day of action, including a leaflet and a guide to activism, visit Uncaged’s Global Boycott Procter & Gamble Day website. To find out what you can do to fight animal testing every day of the year, please visit our P&G Kills website.

Credit: Yerkes National Primate Research Center

Yesterday, as Americans prepare to file their annual tax returns, In Defense of Animals unveiled its “Top 10 Reasons Why Animal Research is a Cruel Joke” in recognition of ridiculous and wasteful experiments funded by your tax dollars. Why now? Because, when it comes to animal research, every day is April Fool’s Day for American taxpayers.

IDA’s “Top 10” list was selected from the “cream of the scientific crop”: National Institutes of Health-funded experiments that were selected from scientific papers published in 2009 and 2010 (and one from 2008), approved by federally-mandated oversight committees, and published in peer-reviewed journals.  Yet, these experiments add nothing to medical progress and tell us nothing we care to know.  Here are a few examples of experiments that made the Top 10 list:

Warning:  Entire List Contains Graphic and/or Sexual Content

• Female rats might enjoy vaginal stimulation (Dartmouth)
• Mice need only  wheel, not shocks, for  wheel-running (University of North Carolina)
• Baby chimpanzees need nurturing (Emory University/Yerkes National Primate Center)
• Trapped rats freak out (San Diego State Univ., Colorado State Univ., Univ. of Arizona)
• Lizards forced to fight get stressed and then decapitated (Harvard and Univ. of South Dakota)
• Castrated monkeys are less dominant (NIH’s internal intramural labs in Bethesda, Maryland)

These experiments are just the tip of the iceberg of waste in biomedical animal research and the Top 10 list is just the beginning of IDA’s Ridiculous Research campaign.  IDA will continue to expose experiments like these on a regular basis in order to demonstrate that archaic and absurd animal experiments funded by your tax dollars are being conducted every day – not just April’s Fool Day.

Click here to read the entire list and learn more about what you can do to help these animals!

This is Baker, a squirrel monkey who was one of the first animals to survive a NASA spaceflight. Photo Credit : NASA

On Tuesday, IDA released letters from seven celebrities opposed to upcoming animal experiments funded by NASA. The experiments are part of a study entitled “Long-term Effects of Space Radiation in Nonhuman Primates” and they would involve irradiating squirrel monkeys at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), a Department of Energy facility in New York State.

The celebrities signed on to the IDA-drafted letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr., and Brookhaven National Laboratory Director Dr. Samuel Aronson. Those who have signed to date include Alicia Silverstone, James Cromwell, Zachary Quinto, Allison Janney, Woody Harrelson, Kristen Bell, Emily Deschanel, and Elizabeth Perkins. Click here to send your own message to Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Department of Energy.

NASA’s proposed experiment would expose these tiny monkeys – only a foot tall – to one massive burst of gamma radiation equal to a three-year journey to Mars and back. Since the 1950s, thousands of monkeys have been exposed to various dosages of radiation, including radio frequency, microwave, X-ray, gamma, electron, proton, neutron and other particle radiation. Scientists have already shown that gamma radiation can cause depressive behavior, immobility, hyperirritability, convulsions, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, hair loss, open sores, skin hemorrhages, and even death.

Previous research has also proven that animals of different species – even of different strains of the same species – react differently to radiation, which calls into question the proposed experiment’s scientific value for human astronauts. These objections and more were included in an official complaint to NASA and BNL sent jointly by IDA and the International Primate Protection League (IPPL). IDA’s anti-vivisection team worked with Shirley McGreal of IPPL on the complaint – challenging the experiments on scientific grounds and citing fatal flaws, such as redundancy, species differences, and available alternatives already in use.

NASA has already committed $1.75 million in taxpayer money to the experiment. BNL is expected to conduct the radiation portion of the experiment, but BNL has not yet made the final decision on whether it will do so. According to conversations with PR officials at BNL, the experiment is currently being reviewed by BNL’s safety, science, and animal welfare committees. If you have not already done so, please take the time to send a letter condemning these experiments to Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Department of Energy.

Thanks for standing with us against these experiments. We will provide updates when we know more.