Category: North America

Animals in laboratories

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

Legislation In Support of Animals has asked the Department of the Interior for a sta-
tus report on the condition of about 100 sooty mangabey monkeys kept by the Delta Primate
Center at Tulane University. Explains LISA president Jeff Dorson, “After an intense lobbying
effort, Tulane obtained a federal permit to buy wild or captive sooty mangabeys from west and
central Africa and through interstate commerce in
1987. The permit allows Tulane to buy up to 150 of
these endangered monkeys for use in leprosy exper-
iments, and is good for 10 years. In granting the
permit, however, the National Institutes of Health
agreed to fund, conduct, and complete a survey to
determine the remaining number of wild primates in
west and central Africa. The survey would cost tax-
payers $250,000. The agreement also stipulated
that Tulane would set up a captive breeding pro-
gram for sooty mangabeys. If the survey was not
completed, Delta would be forced to release 150

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WHO GETS THE MONEY? BUDGETS, ASSETS, FUNDRAISING, AND OVERHEAD

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

BUDGETS, ASSETS, FUNDRAISING, AND OVERHEAD

The major national animal and habitat protection
groups are listed below in alphabetical order, together with
selected other organizations of note. Each group is identified in
the second column by apparent focus and philosophy: Astands
for advocacy, C for conservation of habitat via acquisition, E
for education, H for support of hunting (either for “wildlife
management” or recreation), L for litigation, P for publica-
tion, R for animal rights, S for shelter and sanctuary mainte-
nance, V for focus on vivisection issues, and W for animal
welfare. The R and W designations are used only when an
organization seems to have made a point of being one or the
other. Although many groups are involved in multiple activi-
ties, space limits us to providing only four identifying letters.

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ANIMAL HEALTH

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

India on November 4 declared itself free of
plague, two months after a bubonic plague outbreak hit the
Beed district of Maharashtra state while pneumonic plague
broke out in the city of Surat. The last Beed case was
reported on October 2; the last Surat case was diagnosed
three weeks later. A bubonic plague outbreak possibly
related to the one in Beed raged on in Matabeleland
province, Zimbabwe, killing 21 people and afflicting more
than 200 by November 10. Dr. Lalit Dar and staff at the
India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi meanwhile
questioned whether the diseases in question really were
plague in a letter to The Lancet, a prestigious British med-
ical journal. They noted that while most of the victims had
plague-like symptoms, only 272 out of 6,000 reported cases
were unequivocally identified, and the death toll was unex-
pectedly low. “Even within families more than one case
was uncommon,” they wrote. “The diagnosis of plague
should definitely be confirmed by culture. Conditions that
need to be excluded are viral infections such as hantavirus
pulmonary syndrome, meliodisis and leptospirosis.” The
latter three diseases, like plague, are often spread by infect-
ed rodents and tend to follow flooding, which hit western
India just before the first plague cases occurred.

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LABORATORY ANIMAL NUMBERS: GOOD NEWS OR BAD? by Andrew Rowan

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

In March of this year, I reported that the number of
laboratory animals used annually had declined by up to 50%
in many European countries and also probably in the United
States. I based this conclusion on a variety of sources. In
Europe, Great Britain and the Netherlands have collected
data on laboratory animal numbers with reasonable diligence,
and their records are usually regarded as being reliable. In
both cases, laboratory animal use has fallen by approximate-
ly 50% since the mid-1970s. Switzerland also reports a 50%
decline between 1980 and 1990; the sources for this claim
are news reports in the scientific literature. Similarly,
France, Italy, Sweden, and Germany all report declining
use, although their records are incomplete and cover only a
few years in the 1980s and 1990s. Canada, via the Canadian
Council on Animal Care, also reports significant declines in
the use of the common laboratory mammals.

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Editorial: Where our money goes

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

Our fifth annual report on “Who gets the money?” starts on page 11 of this issue.
Once again you may be shocked and dismayed to discover the extent to which the purported
“program expenses” of many of the biggest and best-known organizations are actually direct
mail costs written off as “public education.” Indeed, some such organizations have few if any
programs beyond direct mail. We view this as an abuse of public trust.
We stress accountability at ANIMAL PEOPLE––and we practice what we preach.
We don’t just tell you our “investigations department” is working on this or that: you see our
original investigative coverage of all the news about animal protection, ten times a year.
Like other animal protection charities, we exist through your concern and your gen-
erosity. Your generosity is critically important, because while your paid subscriptions and
advertising cover most of the cost of printing and mailing ANIMAL PEOPLE, your personal
gifts support our information-gathering. Your donations make possible our calls and faxes to
the people in the know––or who ought to be in the know––wherever animals need help. Often
it’s our call seeking information on your behalf that gets both authorities and animal advocacy
groups moving in response to situations that might otherwise be pushed aside.

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Dirty pool: (Part II of a two-part investigative series)

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

VANCOUVER, KANSAS CITY,
CHICAGO––Propaganda wins converts to
causes by reducing issues to good against evil,
forcing observers to take sides. Propaganda is
among the most effective tools of warfare;
but like warfare itself, it exacts a high price
from those who use it. Much as the dead
from either side don’t “win” a war, propagan-
dists for any cause often find themselves
obliged to wage wars they can’t afford simply
because they chose to use exaggerated
rhetoric in trying to win a simple reform. The
nature of propaganda is that in making broad
accusations of bad faith by the opponent, it
cuts off communication, making enmity out
of disagreement and mendacity out of misun-
derstanding.

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Feds probe possible widespread use: Vealers caught using illegal synthetic steroids on calves

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

SAN FRANCISCO, California––Search-and-seizure affidavits filed by federal inspectors after a series of raids on
veal industry feed formula suppliers hint at widespread use of illegal drugs, including several which have been identified as
carcinogens in laboratory animals and one, clenbuterol, which is considered “acutely poisonous” to human beings, according
to Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges executive director Lester Crawford, who was formerly head of meat
inspection for the USDA.

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Famine hits Puget orcas

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

The orca population of Puget Sound has
grown from just 68 in 1976 to 94 now, reports
marine mammologist Ken Balcomb, of Friday
Harbor, Washington––but may fall fast, as many
whales in the heavily fished waters show signs of
starvation. Males are apparently suffering more
than females; several are missing, presumed dead.
The famine is a blow to the hopes of
groups trying to win the release of orcas captured
from those waters, including Lolita, 30, of the
Miami Seaquarium, currently considered the best
candidate. The Seaquarium tank is unsafe, Ric
O’Barry of the Dolphin Project alleges, and could
be ruptured by displacement from Lolita’s leaps.

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Elephants HSUS “saved” are still in Milwaukee

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

MILWAUKEE––The long-awaited
transfer of the former Milwaukee County Zoo
elephants Tamara and Annie to the Performing
Animal Welfare Society sanctuary in Galt,
California, originally set for September, has
been postponed until spring.
PAWS president Pat Derby said the
delay is “primarily because the trailer training
for the elephants is going very slowly. Our
consultant Ellen Leech and the zoo staff have
been working with the elephants using rewards
and positive reinforcement,” she added. “We
expect that by spring the elephants will be
ready to load without undue stress.”

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