Blogging About Critters Since 2007

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Chimpanzee Meat Sold In British Black Market

Disgusting. Sometimes it's hard to read these stories. It makes one feel so helpless.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Pam Anderson Urges End to India's Animal Testing

I don't always know how I personally feel about Pamela Anderson, but I can't argue with her (non-acting) work.

Her letter to the Indian research facility is pretty distressing. Sounds like she watched a harsh video. For the full story, go here to the Vancouver Sun.

Former Baywatch star and model Pamela Anderson has accused one of India's most prestigious research centres of animal cruelty, urging it to retire decades-old test monkeys and adopt humane practices.

Anderson, famous for slow-motion beach running scenes in the hit 1990s lifeguard TV show, wrote to R.C. Deka, director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after watching a video allegedly exposing animal cruelty at the New Delhi centre.

"It broke my heart to see the suffering that is documented in the enclosed video", wrote Anderson, in a letter sent on behalf of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

"But the animals suffering behind closed doors at AIIMS must endure this nightmare every day."

In the letter, Anderson said dozens of monkeys are kept in "cramped, barren, and rusty cages for years on end," and appealed for the release of one monkey she said had been suffering at the research facility for nearly 20 years.

The former Playboy model says she cried while viewing the video, and described workers "slamming" animals against their wire cages and "taunting" the monkeys by pretending to kick them.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Animals as Inputs in Accounting

I'm studying for the CPA exam and am working through Becker's online course review for the business section. Here's an example of "joint costs" that says all you need to know about animals as nothing more than inputs in a manufacturing process.

"The meat packing industry takes a single input, a steer, and produces many different final products. Each product must be assigned a cost including the different cuts of meat for human consumption, different food products for animal consumption (pet food) and basic ingredients for glue."

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Sled Dog Massacre Continues to Horrify

This is the story of the sled dogs that were cruelly executed because a Whistler company wanted to downsize. Apparently, the manager of Howling Dog Tours applied for workers comp for PTSD and this is how the whole story was revealed.

It's created quite an international uproar and the murdered dogs are knows as the Whistler 100.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Physicians Committee Accuses University of Washington of Cruelty to Ferrets

I live in Seattle and I am always skeptical of how the UW treats its lab animals. I had never heard of the use of ferrets in medical research though. News to me.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine claims these are unnecessary procedures, even though the ferrets are apparently anesthesized during the process.

Full story in the Seattle Times.
A national physicians group has filed a federal complaint against the University of Washington, saying its use of ferrets to train medical residents in emergency procedures on babies and children violates a federal animal-welfare law.

The residents, who are learning to insert breathing tubes in premature infants, practice on anesthetized ferrets, confirmed Dr. Dennis Mayock, a professor of pediatrics and medical director of the UW's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The complaining group, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, based in Washington, D.C., says only about 13 percent of the pediatric-residency programs in the United States use animals for such training.

The UW is "using an educational method that, in our view, is not justifiable," said Dr. John Pippin, a Dallas cardiologist who helped write the complaint....

The UW has been cited in the past for deficiencies in animal research, including allowing a monkey to starve in 2009. In 2008, it had to return $20,000 in federal research grant money after a finding that it had allowed unauthorized surgeries on primates. Inspectors found serious deficiencies in animal-care facilities in 2006 and put the UW on probation.

Since then, however, the UW has spent millions to upgrade animal-care facilities and is now fully accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, hospital spokeswoman Tina Mankowski said.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Australian Animal Rights Campaign to Help Calves

Here's the full article from the Weekly Times Now...
ANIMAL rights groups have begun a campaign against the dairy industry's treatment of bobby calves.

Australian Dairy Farmers says calves can be left unfed for 30 hours before slaughter but the RSPCA says the practice is "cruel".

Animals Australia has a video on its website showing calves being roughly dragged off utes and thrown to the ground.

RSPCA scientific officer (farm animals) Melina Tensen said there had been no independently funded research into the effects of leaving calves unfed for 30 hours. Dairy Australia commissioned a blood-test study which showed that calves deteriorated after 24 hours off feed, she said.

The study showed a limit of 24 hours without food "would be better", she said.

Australian Dairy Farmers animal health and welfare chairman David Basham, said studies had shown "no adverse affects on welfare up to 30 hours".

However, he said some practices shown in the Animals Australia video were not condoned by the industry, "dragging them off trucks and things like that".

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants

This list was issued by In Defense of Animals last month.

Here they are...

San Antonio Zoo (Texas)
Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada),
Buttonwood Park Zoo (Mass.),
Central Florida Zoo (Fla.),
Niabi Zoo (Ill.), Topeka Zoo (Kan.),
Honolulu Zoo (Hawaii),
Wildlife Safari (Ore.),
York's Wild Kingdom Zoo (Maine) tied with Southwick's Zoo (Mass.),
Pittsburgh Zoo's ICC (Penn.).

San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Calif.) earned a dishonorable mention.

I'm surprised that Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle didn't make it.
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