Foreign

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

British armed forces minister John Reid on
June 12 suspended British participation in NATO exercises
which involve shooting sedated pigs to give
medics practice in treating gunshot wounds, pending
review of the value of the procedure, which is reportedly
often used in training U.S. combat surgeons.
Reid’s action came as the Home Office was
reportedly preparing to release statistics showing that
the number of animals used in British laboratories is up,
for the second year in a row. About 20% more animals
were used in genetic work in 1996 than in 1995, and
that trend is expected to continue, even as the numbers
used in conventional product safety testing continue a
long, slow drop.

The University of Cape Town in June
donated 10 former laboratory rabbits to the South
African chapter of Beauty Without Cruelty, which
will place them for adoption with the help of the
Domestic Animal Rescue Group, and has agreed to
donate six more rabbits each month. BWC spokesperson
Beryl Scott said a sanctuary for the rabbits is under
development at Hout Bay. The university uses about
9,500 rabbits per year.
Fourteen months after the activist group
Primates for Primates complained that staff of the
Central Sydney Area Health Service were using air
rifle shots to move baboons at the Royal Prince Alfred
Hospital in Wallacia, Australia, the institution has
been officially reprimanded by the New South Wales
agriculture ministry, and has been warned that “any
recurrence of such conduct may result in the cancellation
or suspension” of accreditation. The 100 baboons
are used, according to ministry records, in “very intrusive
scientific experiments on pregnant females.”