Primate Breeding Facility Generates Controversy In Puerto Rico Itself

Good! I come down hard on Puerto Rico, ever since the scandal in which dogs were being thrown off bridges by an animal control company. Plus, the horrible pictures I've seen of strays in Puerto Rico. Plus the fact that I personally know the Latin attitude towards animals. Plus, well, you get this picture.

They've been planning to build a facility to breed research monkeys in Puerto Rico for some time. Hey, it's a chance for some jobs for the young folks. I'm sorry, but this is not the way to create jobs. Horrible things like the slave trade created jobs. That didn't make it right.

I'm glad this is sparking a dialogue in Puerto Rico. People such as Jane Goodall and Benicio del Toro have also voiced their opposition.

Support Island Dog Inc.

I really like this group and donate to them. Puerto Rico's animal welfare is pathetic. It's not that different from the rest of Latin America, but Puerto Rico is part of the United States. There's no excuse for them not to be on par with at least the worst US state.

Puerto Rico Plans Huge Primate Breeding Facility to Supply Researchers

I'm behind on my email and only just read this action alert from the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Another crass attempt at primate slavery for money wrapped in "we put people first" robes."

From the ALDF action alert page....

Less than one year ago, Puerto Rico enacted a landmark animal protection law, based in part on a set of model laws drafted by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The sweeping set of reforms provided for in Act 154 (P S. 2552) place Puerto Rico among the top tier of U.S. states and jurisdictions with regards to the strength of their laws protecting animals. This new law provides specific guidelines for experimentation on live animals: specifically, scientific research on animals at universities is allowable only when it meets criteria deeming it “absolutely essential;” any other experiments are prohibited for educational purposes at the elementary, intermediate and higher education levels, and completely banned in facilities outside of university research labs. The proposed primate breeding facility would violate both the letter and the spirit of Puerto Rico’s progressive new law, which strictly limits the use of animals in experimentation.

In addition to troubling questions about its legality, such a facility would also place Puerto Rico behind the curve in the current context of scientific debate about laboratory research involving live animals. In 2007, the National Academy of Sciences published a report calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to make a fundamental shift in its toxicity testing strategies away from testing on mammals and focusing increasingly on new, more accurate—not to mention, more ethical—in vitro toxicity testing.

Selena Gomez Auction For the Dogs of Puerto Rico

We've blogged quite a bit here about the poor conditions for stray dogs in Puerto Rico. Here is a documentary on Youtube narrated by actress Selena Gomez. She is currently having an auction to benefit Island Dog Inc. I'm glad that this will get more publicity for the issue. This will not only get people involved, but may also force the govt. there to spend some resources to deal with the problem in a humane way.



Here is Island Dog's site.

More on Outrageous Animal Cruelty Verdict in Puerto Rico

Here is the BBC article on that travesty in Puerto Rico. If you care about animals, don't give them your tourist dollars. This is just one of many of a long line of animal abuse problems there.

Three Workers Acquited of Animal Cruelty in Puerto Rico

These are the guys that allegedly threw 60 or so dogs off a bridge. The judge said there wasn't enough evidence. Baloney. Remember this the next time you think about going to Puerto Rico. Or better yet, don't think about going there. Disgusting.

Three Men Go on Trial in Puerto Rico for Dog Massacre

These are the 3 that allegedly tossed animals off a bridge to kill them. If guilty, I hope they are punished severely. Somehow I doubt that will happen, but you never know.

Animal control workers in October took about 80 pets from the housing project in the northern Puerto Rican town of Barceloneta and allegedly tossed them off a bridge to their deaths. The killings brought revulsion around the world and triggered calls for tourist boycotts of this U.S. Caribbean territory.

Losing Race Horses Euthanized in Puerto Rico

Race horses who lose in Puerto Rico are likely to be put down.

More than 400 horses, many in perfect health, are killed each year by lethal injection at a clinic tucked behind the Hipodromo Camarero racetrack, chief veterinarian Jose Garcia told The Associated Press after checking clinic log books going back seven years.

Unlike on the U.S. mainland, where many former racehorses are retrained for riding or sent to special refuges, the animals have few options in this U.S. Caribbean territory. Owners say caring for and feeding a losing racehorse is too expensive....

The killing of so many racehorses in Puerto Rico isn't happening because they have suffered a serious injury, like Eight Belles, the filly euthanized after breaking both front ankles racing in the Kentucky Derby on May 3. Here, even when a second home is available, veterinarians say that some owners want losing horses executed anyway _ some to save money, others to have revenge.

"You'll get a few owners who get so upset, they just want the horse dead," said veterinarian Shakyra Rosario.

Photo by rfatoday.

Horrific Conditions Continue in Puerto Rico

This is horrific testimony from Steve McGarva, a man who moved to Puerto Rico when his wife went to work for Amgen there. Conditions are terrible for dogs in the country, particularly those strays on the beaches.

The details are disgusting and disturbing. Please support his rescue organization Island Dog Inc. which also works on animal welfare in the Virgin Islands.

Killings Begin a National Dialogue in Puerto Rico

The tragic killings of the dogs thrown over a bridge last year shed light on Puerto Rico's poor treatment of animals.

I'm glad to see the media is still writing about it. This detailed article is from the New York Times.

News of the event became an international embarrassment for Puerto Rico and something of a vindication for animal rights advocates here and on the United States mainland who had long tried to draw attention to the plight of animals on the island.

Animal rights advocates contend that the inhumane disposal of animals was routine, with unwanted dogs, cats and even farm animals hurled from bridges, intentionally crushed by vehicles or butchered with machetes. Government nonchalance, they say, has allowed this to go on.

Now, international attention is having some impact. Not only is it spurring some government action, but it has unified animal welfare groups and brought the issue to the attention of Puerto Rico's citizens.

“In our culture we have not addressed these issues because, probably, we did not think they were important,” said Carlos M. Carazo, director of the animal disease division of Puerto Rico’s State Office for Animal Control, in an interview in San Juan last month. “In Puerto Rico, we have so many issues to address, we haven’t had the leisure time to think about animals. But this is probably the time to start thinking about it.”

Puerto Rico, among United States territories, has long had a poor international reputation for the treatment of animals. There is no government program for mass sterilization or registration of pets and little animal welfare education in the schools. The island has only about a half-dozen animal shelters, and while municipalities are charged with rounding up strays, that duty has largely been ignored, government officials and animal advocates say.

The key is to keep the pressure on the government and to work together. Groups get too easily fragmented over turf. This is too important for the animals (and let's not forget tourism dollars!)

Photo by amaliasoto.

Puerto Rico Pet Killings Go to Trial

A judge in Puerto Rico has ruled that the owner of an animal control company and two of his employees must all stand trial for animal cruelty charges relating to the deaths of around 80 pets last year.

Local officials had hired Animal Control Solutions to remove cats and dogs from housing projects and have claimed that they thought the animals would be taken to shelters.

"I will no longer do any animal-related business in Puerto Rico," the owner of the company, Julio Diaz told the Associated Press. "We are the only ones who have been blamed. We are innocent."

Good! You shouldn't do business ANYWHERE, idiot.

Photo by andyipics.

Witnesses Testify in Puerto Rico Dog Massacre

Sad testimony in the Puerto Rico dog killings where animals were thrown over a bridge to die. (Scroll down to read the story half-way down the page).

The company's owner had denied responsibility, but it looks like he lied.

The owner of an animal-control company told petowners he took responsibility in the deaths of dozens of dogs and cats that were seized from public housing projects and thrown from a bridge last year, a witness testified Tuesday.

Julio Diaz, owner of Animal Control Solutions, told an Oct. 12 meeting at the Hector Ruiz project in the town of Barceloneta that he was the "person in charge" and would fire workers for the pets' deaths, tenant Carmen Agosto said.

"He offered a pet to the children, but they said they would not take it," Agosto testified at a preliminary hearing in the animal cruelty case.

Another witness, Angelica Vargas, described the shock of seeing her dog "Yoli," one of the animals who survived the fall, on a television news broadcast after the animals were rounded up.

"I cried, because at that moment I could do nothing," she said. Yoli's back legs will need to be amputated, due to injuries he suffered when he was hurled from the bridge, she said.

Photo by smiteme.

Little Change for Puerto Rico's Animals

You'd think the Puerto Rican government would move immediately to repair the international public relations damage resulting from last year's animal cruelty scandal. Remember? The one where hundreds of unwanted dogs were thrown over a bridge and left to slowly die?

Well, Puerto Rico is taking its sweet time in implementing reforms.

Activists in Puerto Rico who were outraged by the massacre of dozens of dogs hurled from a bridge last year say the government has been slow to deliver on promised measures to protect stray animals from abuse and abandonment.

In response to an outcry over allegations of inhumane killings, the government pledged in December to build shelters and create animal protection units inside the police. Authorities say they are making progress despite bureaucratic obstacles.

But advocates say that dogs are still being abandoned in large numbers, some of them starving or battered, on the streets and beaches of this U.S. Caribbean territory.

“It seems to me that the situation for the animals is continuing basically the same,” said Eugenio Crespo, president of the Animal Protection Federation and owner of shelters in Mayaguez and Ponce.

As for punishment of the animal control company responsible for the massacres...

The owner of the animal control company and two employees have been charged with animal cruelty, but they have denied involvement. A judge has been hearing evidence to decide whether the case should go to trial.

The case focused new attention on treatment of animals in Puerto Rico, which has no pet registration law and little spaying or neutering.

Photo by ElizabethKracht.

Monkey Overpopulation in Puerto Rico

The growth of patas monkey populations has reached the point where they have become a "nuisance" to Puerto Rico agriculture. They have become such a problem that they have to be caught and sent to other facilities or face being euthanized.

One such facility is the Florida Teaching Zoo in Bushnell, FL.

“Bringing in the monkeys is nothing new for us,” said veterinarian Mark Wilson, who operates the {Florida Teaching Zoo} in Bushnell. “We’ve been working with the National Zoo in Mayaquez, Puerto Rico, for years, developing a breeding program to protect and expand the gene pool.”

On one hand, the patas monkeys, which are native to Africa, are losing ground every day because they are hunted for food. But in Puerto Rico, their uncontrolled numbers are causing major problems for agriculture.

They live in the mountains, but during the day they venture out, cross main highways and have a field day in the fields of pineapples, plantains or whatever crop is convenient and appeals to them that day. The problem has accelerated to the point that the animals must be caught and removed, according to Wilson.

Wilson makes sure the monkeys he brings in never go to research laboratories or are sold as pets.

Photo by fiznatty.

Lawsuit Filed in Puerto Rico Animal Killings

This is just a sick, sick story that keeps getting worse. Thanks to the Associated Press for its investigative probe into the atrocities.

News that live animals had been thrown to their deaths from a bridge reached the public last month when Animal Control Solutions, a government contractor, was accused of inhumanely killing some 80 dogs and cats seized from three housing projects in the town of Barceloneta. A half dozen survived the fall of at least 50 feet.

The AP probe, which included visits to two sites where animals were slaughtered, found the inhumane killings were far more extensive than that one incident. The AP saw and was told about a scale and brutality far beyond even what animal welfare activists suspected, stretching over the last eight years.

A $22.5 million lawsuit against Animal Control Solutions and city officials — including those who helped round up the animals — was filed on behalf of 16 Barceloneta families whose dogs or cats were seized under rules prohibiting pets at the city projects. The animals' deaths show "a cold and depraved heart and has stirred public outrage around the whole world," the lawsuit says.

As bad as Animal Control Solutions is, one also has to fault the Puerto Rican government agencies. They apparently don't give a damn and should be held accountable. This is an international embarrassment and gives the incorrect impression of a backwards, underdeveloped, uneducated country. I just don't buy that.

Animal welfare activists have complained to government agencies for years about allegations of improper disposal of animals, but say officials didn't act. Preventive action also is almost nonexistent: Puerto Rico has at least 100,000 stray dogs and cats — and no island-wide spaying or neutering programs.

Activist Alfredo Figueroa said the animal disposal companies acted with impunity because government agencies ignored allegations of cruelty, rather than investigate the companies or address the overpopulation of strays.

"There is apathy," Figueroa said. "No one wants to take responsibility."

Photo by Oquendo.