A n i m
a l W r i t e s © sm
The official ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com
Issue #
07/16/00
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ Park StRanger@aol.com
~
MicheleARivera@aol.com
~ SavingLife@aol.com
THE EIGHT ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ Monkey Business, Researchers
Accountability, and Social Responsibility
by Marc Bekoff
2 ~ Drug Alert
3 ~ Website of Note
4 ~ McDonald's Talks To Kids, Why Not PeTA? by
Alison Green
5 ~ Boulder City Council Votes to Replace Animal
"Owner" with
Animal Guardian
6 ~ Student "Animal Law" Groups
7 ~ You Are The Answer
8 ~ Quotes To Remember
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Monkey Business,
Researchers Accountability,
and Social Responsibility
by Marc Bekoff - bekoffm@spot.Colorado.EDU
Colorado
Daily, June 23, 2000
In a recent issue of the Colorado Daily (June 20, 2000, pages 1,4) Terje
Langeland wrote a well-balanced essay on the meetings of the American Society
of Primatologists that were held in Boulder last week. One issue that was
raised and only briefly discussed concerned the research of one of the co-
organizers of the meeting, Mark Laudenslager, who conducts research at CU's
Health Sciences Center. Laudenslager's research deals with what he calls
"brief early maternal separation in nonhuman primates, dominance
hierarchies in nonhuman primates, territorial defeat in rodents, and learned
helplessness in rodents" (www.uchsc.edu/sm/psych/postdoc/flauden.htm).
Some of this research raises numerous ethical questions that need to be debated
publicly. For example, the study of experimentally-induced brief maternal
separation requires that individuals be kept in cages and that young animals be
taken away from, and deprived of, much-needed nurturing by their primary
care-giver, their mother. Learned helplessness requires that animals be trained
to avoid an aversive stimulus, usually an intense shock, and then NOT be
allowed to avoid it. Here's a quotation from an early paper on a study of
learned helplessness in dogs: "At the onset of electric shock the [naive]
dog runs frantically about, defecating, urinating, and howling until it
scrambles over the barrier and so escapes from the shock...However, in contrast
to the naive dog, it [the trained dog] soon stops running and remains silent
until shock terminates...it seems to 'give up' and passively 'accept the
shock'."
The reason that Prof. Laudenslager's research wasn't discussed was because he
refused to discuss it. Laudenslager claimed "You have to understand that
the animal-rights movement has a really inappropriate conception of what I do.
And I [have] nothing to say to the press about it, because it always gets
distorted..." Well, isn't this interesting. A federally-funded
researcher whose research is supported by the American public doesn't want to
take the time to set the record straight and correct distortions. Is it better
that we all wallow in ignorance? Perhaps
if the record was set straight the hard questions would stop? This attitude is
a bit too self-serving and arrogant for my tastes. As a publicly supported
scientist Laudenslager has an obligation to engage the people who underwrite
his research. A recent article in the prestigious journal, Nature, stressed the
importance of a social contract between science and society that is
characterized by two-way dialogue. Scientists have deep and numerous social
responsibilities that can't be ignored. In fact, nowadays, more people
including some scientists, question science. Increasingly science isn't seen as
a self-justifying activity, but as another institution whose claims on the
public treasury must be defended.
Laudenslager also claims that "I've never done anything to an animal that
they don't experience in natural, you know, development." Of course, just
because something happens in the wild doesn't justify humans doing the same
thing to animals in captivity. Indeed, in some primates and carnivores,
youngsters are brutally killed by invading males (infanticide). Could this fact
ever justify humans brutally killing youngsters in captivity because it happens
in the wild? Many animals also experience rich and deep emotional lives and
this makes it even more morally repugnant to manipulate their lives so that
their experimentally altered - deprived - early experience with care-givers
produces individuals who are doomed to be socially and physically incompetent
for their tenure in horrible captive prisons in the dark and dreary basements
of research institutions. And the care-givers also suffer the absence and loss
of their young. Indeed, the suffering extends far beyond the animals directly
manipulated. If something occurs in the wild then it's time to go out and study
it there, and stop ruining numerous lives.
A suggestion - take the time to write to your senators and congress people and
ask them to enforce accountability for federally funded researchers.
Researchers shouldn't be allowed to bite the hands that feed them - to deprive
us of information that is rightfully ours. They only continue to do because we
allow them to do. Indifference can mean death - indifference is responsible for
the ruination of the lives of numerous animals who can't speak for themselves,
whose tormented screams fall on deaf ears - sentient beings who experience
incalculable pain and deep suffering.
Marc Bekoff
EPO Biology, CU Boulder
Co-Founder (with Jane Goodall) of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment
of
Animals/Citizens for Responsible Animal Behavior Studies
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Drug Alert
If you or someone you know has suffered a severe
adverse reaction to a prescribed medication such as Rezulin, Vioxx, RotaShield,
Propulsid, Seldane, Duract, Cylert, Fen Phen, Ticlid, Rexar, or any other
medication please contact Rick Bogle at rbogle@idausa.org or (415) 388 9641 x19
[In Defense of Animals (IDA)] to discuss the possibility of being included in a
class-action suit.
Source:
rbogle@idausa.org
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Website of Note
Check
out the new Campaign for Homeless Animals website. Be sure to follow the
links to articles at the bottom of the page.
Help The Shelter/Street
Animals...Provide A Loving Home!
http://www.theanimalspirit.com/breeders.html
Source: BnzaJ@aol.com
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McDonald's Talks To Kids, Why
Not PeTA?
by Alison Green
Email: AlisonG@PETA-Online.org
The
cow pie sure hit the fan last week, as a battalion of columnists, editorial
writers and radio talk-show hosts condemned People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals' Unhappy Meal. The spoof on McDonald's Happy Meals, which includes
photos of animals on factory farms, is meant to show kids the true origin of
their cheeseburgers and Big Macs.
If you listened to the some of the least amused commentators, you'd think no
one had ever suggested taking a message straight to kids before. Of course,
just the opposite is true. Marketing professionals will tell you that
kids are a favorite target of companies hawking everything from toys to sugary
cereals to, yes, greasy burgers.
In 1997 the British High Court ruled that McDonald's exploits children with its
advertising.
But where is the outrage over the fact that McDonald's targets kids far more
aggressively than the tobacco industry targets teens, directing much of its
annual $2 billion ad budget toward children?
FAST-FOOD, BIG PUSH
Ronald McDonald is the food industry's Joe Camel, making a buck off kids at the
expense of their health, pushing fatty products that set them up for a lifetime
of cancer, heart disease, stroke and other killers -- not to mention helping to
make this generation of kids the fattest ever.
Kids are paying the price: Most children today have signs of artery blockages
before they finish high school, and some before they get to first grade, thanks
to diets heavy in meat and dairy. But despite the fact that every reputable
source of nutrition information now says that we drastically should reduce, if
not eliminate, our consumption of animal foods in order to prevent disease, the
meat industry continues to push its products on children.
The misrepresentation doesn't stop there. Ronald McDonald even has told
children that hamburgers grow in patches like vegetables. Most kids love
animals and never would intentionally hurt them, but no one is giving them the
other side of the story.
The same court that found that McDonald's exploits kids also ruled that the
company is ``culpably responsible'' for cruelty to animals.
OFFER REBUFFED
A McDonald's training video tells slaughterhouse workers that as many as one in
every 20 cows may be skinned and dismembered while conscious, in direct
violation of U.S. Department of Agriculture regulation. Animals raised for
McDonald's are crowded into tiny stalls and cages and subjected to painful
procedures like debeaking without anesthesia -- practices so cruel that they've
been banned in the European Union.
PETA has offered to abandon the Unhappy Meal campaign altogether if McDonald's
simply will bring its U.S. suppliers up to the same animal-welfare standards
that the company now uses in its European restaurants, a simple step for a $36
billion-a-year corporation that claims to take animal welfare
seriously.
To
date, McDonald's has refused.
Kids have a right to know that their chicken nuggets and sausage McMuffins had
a miserable life before ending up in a take-out bag. Just as schools show kids
pictures of diseased lungs to show the effects of smoking and photos of grisly
car crashes to illustrate the consequences of drunk driving, PETA's Unhappy Meals show kids the consequences of
eating at McDonald's: a diet that's fatal to both animals and humans.
If the truth about our food is too gruesome to share with our children, isn't
it too gruesome to feed to them? Parents concerned about their child getting a
glimpse of an Unhappy Meal should embrace a healthy diet that they can be
honest about with their kids.
Alison Green writes for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
©2000 Knight Ridder
http://www.commondreams.org/views/070500-101.htm
Source vrc@tiac.net
(Maynard S. Clark)
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Boulder City Council Votes
to Replace Animal "Owner" with Animal Guardian
Boulder, CO...In a bold and progressive move on
behalf of animals, the Boulder City Council voted 8-1 to accept a proposal to
change the city's municipal code to refer to people as the guardian of their
companion animals instead of as their "owners."
Erasing the category of "owner" does not change a person's legal
rights, responsibilities and liabilities to their companion animals, and
animals will still be deemed property. However, by codifying the concept
of animal guardianship, the City Council is recognizing that companion animals
should be included in our social ethic for reasons beyond their monetary worth
as commodities.
"The Boulder City Council should be commended for their foresight and
conviction of recognizing companion animals, not as mere objects to be bought,
sold and discarded at their "owner's" whim, but as individuals with
needs and interests of their own," said Elliot Katz, DVM, president of In
Defense of Animals (IDA). "This was definitely a complete community
effort and the City Council recognized that there was a big base of support
from the local newspaper, the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, university
professors and many citizens. Boulder is truly on the cutting edge in
terms of evolving our social ethic to include all beings, both human and
non-human alike. Hopefully, other communities will follow Boulder's
progressive lead and add the category of animal guardian to their municipal
codes."
Other communities and cities have begun the process to codify the category of
animal guardian. In San Francisco and Marin County, CA, the Commission of
Animal Care and Control have recommended that the Board of Supervisors add the
category of guardian and the Berkeley, CA Humane Commission will discuss the
issue next week.
"The word "guardian" denotes a higher level of responsibility
towards another being," said Jan McHugh, Executive Director of the Humane
Society of Boulder Valley. "Although it is a simple language change
that does not alter the legal status of animals as property, we hope that the
increased awareness of the "guardian" language will elevate the
status of animals in our community. We will use the word
"guardian" as another tool to fight animal abuse and
exploitation."
"I am so proud of Boulder's City Council," said Rita Anderson, the
local citizen who introduced the proposal and was instrumental in gaining
community support. "I am absolutely convinced that this is a
positive step for both the people and animals of Boulder, and I would really
like to thank everyone involved for having the conviction and courage to stand
together on behalf of the animals."
Source: Russell
Tenofsky <russell@idausa.org>
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Student "Animal Law"
Groups
The
following Student "Animal Law" Groups is from a list by the Animal
Legal Defense Fund (ALDF). For their phones or emails contact:
lwilensky@aldf.org or (707) 769-7771 Ext. 18:
*Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College (SALDF) (OR)
*University of Oregon Law Center (Animal Justice) (OR)
*Chicago Kent School of Law (Animal Rights Law Society) (IL)
*Harvard Law School (SALDF) (MA)
*Vermont Law School (SALDF) (VT)
*Northwestern Law School (SALDF) (IL)
*New York University (SALDF) (NY)
*Georgetown Law School (Georgetown Animal Legal Defense League) (DC)
*Western New England College (SALDF) (MA)
*University of Denver College of Law (SALDF) (CO)
*Boston College Law School (SALDF) (MA)
The Legal Eagle, an online newsletter produced by Harvard Law School
SALDF:
www.saldf.law.harvard.edu
Source:
adela@metconnect.com
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You Are The Answer
Good Morning, may we help you, is how we start our day.
"You won't kill them?" are the first words you say.
They're female, mostly female, nine in this liter,
I gritted my teeth trying not to sound bitter.
You bring LIFE to us and briskly come in.
The novelty now faded along with your whim.
You smile as you offer what to you seems a present.
We smile right back and try to be pleasant.
Your gift is the third since our office just opened.
We're your last resort - but you were just hoping.
For a miracle - nine people to rush in
And choose each pup for a friend.
Our heart has grown heavy - our soul quite sad
You thought we would thank you and surely be glad.
Glad to relieve your careless mistake.
To appear in six months for another retake?
We're a shelter, a place for unwanted animals
Where everyone loses and so many gamble
Humane workers are desperate, weary, forlorn
Concerned for those that should never be born.
This is not what we wanted to be.
Please understand - don't you see? Won't you see?
The hurt that's inside because we do care.
About those nine pups you have over there.
Bouncy and cuddly, cute - so much more,
But you only shrug as you walk out the door.
You left them for us to make the decision
Which ones will die or go right on living.
Only one of ten will be given a home
And for how long a time will she belong
To a family who chooses, for whatever reason,
To return her to us when she is in season.
History repeats, for she will have been bred.
She trembles it seems with fear and with dread.
The face of each worker can plainly be read,
Because they know she will be dead.
We feel that we love her more than you,
There are so many, what else can we do?
You point your finger and say, "Oh the shame.
You put them to sleep, you are to blame.
Little do you realize how we try not to hate you.
And strive with much effort to educate you.
You didn't stay till the end to see us weep
When we had to take them and put them "to sleep".
Euthanasia - a kind death, by definition.
Less birth would be kind, is our declaration
But you go on in your merry ole way,
Forgetting too soon and without much delay
That you cause the problem - You are the SOURCE.
You just won't admit it, of course.
You give our best for the animals and for you
Although the thank-yous are sparse and quite few.
Love and concern carry us through every day
We need you to help THERE MUST BE A BETTER WAY.
1979 by Barbara Smith
Source: "mgoose" <mgoose@erols.com>
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Quotes To Remember
LD50 Test - After years of killing......
"It is the opinion of the NSMR that the routine use of the quantitative
LD50 test is not now scientifically justified . . ."
~ National Society of Medical Research
"There is really little scientific justification for the test because
reproducibility is not good, it can even vary from day to day, and the results
are dependent on the animal strain used . . ."
~ P.S. Rogers, Managing Director,
Hazelton Laboratories Europe
Ltd.
". . . it is simply not possible with all the animals in the world to go
through new chemicals in the blind way that we have at the present time, and
reach credible conclusions about the hazards to human health . . ."
~ Joshua Lederberg, Ph.D
Nobel Prize winning geneticist
and President of Rockefeller
University
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Susan Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights Online
P O Box 7053
Tampa, Fl 33673-7053
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal Rights Online=-
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