To observe Labor Day, an annual holiday honoring the contributions of America’s workers, Animal Policy Examiner spotlights working animals in a special series of articles.
“The science of life is a superb and dazzlingly lighted hall which may be reached only by passing through a long and ghastly kitchen,” wrote Claude Bernard in 1865. Known as “the father of physiology” and also as the "prince of vivisectors," Bernard defended experiments on animals as being “entirely conclusive for the toxicology and hygiene of man,” according to an entry in Wikipedia.
Interestingly, it is also reported that his wife, Marie-Françoise Martin, founded the first anti-vivisection society in France a little while later in 1883.
Divergence of viewpoints even within families remains common today, when vivisection—the practice of conducting invasive, frequently painful, and often deadly experiments on live animals—is as controversial as ever.
Some species are “protected” while others are not
United States researchers use more than 100 million animals per year in a variety of experiments, estimates the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS), adding that over 95% of those animals are mice, rats, birds, fish, and other cold-blooded creatures, none of which are protected under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
Those animals may be subjected to pain, deprivation, exposure, and any form of death, and the law requires no record-keeping of their use or conditions.
Additionally, American labs experiment on more than one million dogs, cats, primates (non-human), guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, and farmed animals every year, reports AAVS, quoting figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the regulatory agency charged with enforcing the AWA, which requires minimal standards of care.
According to USDA figures for a recent year, at least 73,000 of those “protected” animals—dogs, cats, primates, etc.—were recorded as undergoing “unalleviated pain and distress,” as quoted by AAVS.
Lab animals' work helps create hundreds of billions in profits per year
The amount of earnings by individuals, institutions, and corporations generated via the use of animals in experiments is nearly inestimable. It would have to include profits by at least the following:
• Companies like Marshall Farms, which is said to breed and sell for experimentation some 10,000 beagles annually.
• Companies like Charles River Labs, Covance, and Huntingdon Life Sciences, which contract with other companies or with government agencies to perform animal experiments.
• Institutions such as Harvard University, Tulane University, and the University of California at Davis, members of the federally-funded National Primate Research Center system (NPRC).
• Pharmaceutical, medical equipment, chemical, and various other types of companies that depend on animal testing for development and government approval of many of their products, the sales of which bring in hundreds of billions of dollars every year.
Billy Jo, former circus performer, used in HIV and cancer research
Sometime during the first 15 years of his life in a circus, a chimpanzee named Billy Jo had his teeth knocked out with a crow bar, according to the Fauna Foundation.
Then he was purchased by the now-defunct Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) of New York University.
In his 14 years at LEMSIP, Billy Jo, or “Ch-447” as he was known there, “was knocked down over 289 times—65 times by dart, sometimes with four or five men surrounding his cage,” as described by Fauna, the chimp rescue group that subsequently acquired him.
For the rest of his life he exhibited agitation and fear every time he had “strangers grouped in front of him.”
Fauna quoted these details from his lab history:
“In addition to several HIV challenges [inoculation with experimental HIV vaccines], Billy endured 40 punch liver biopsies, three open wedge liver biopsies, three bone marrow biopsies and two lymph node biopsies with no tangible or practical results.
“He also chewed off his thumbs waking up alone from knockdowns when no one was around to care for him. During one fit of anxiety, he bit off his index finger.
“Anxious, aggressive, and fearful, Billy banged incessantly on his cage, rocking and staring into space when left alone.
“Even today, Billy is still plagued by anxiety attacks—attacks so bad that they leave this majestic adult male chimpanzee choking, gagging and convulsing.”
Billy Jo died at Fauna in February 2006.
Fauna’s website includes these statements in memory of Bill Jo:
“He could be frightening and he knew it. But once he knew that he had your full respect, he was a different guy. He would go from spitting and throwing things at you, to sitting down, gesturing for the person to come over for an interaction.
“He was very social with humans and had a number of human friends—more than any of the other Fauna residents. His charisma drew people his way. Meeting or being with Billy left you feeling you had experienced something special and magical.
“He was a richly complex individual in intelligence, emotion and behavior. Billy earned everyone’s respect and affection. He served other chimpanzees now held in laboratories by helping us all better understand the effects of laboratory confinement and use on magnificent individuals just like him.”
(Photo above courtesy Fauna Foundation)
Please visit this page again soon for Part Four in this series:
"Working Animals: Animal experiments, debate, and The Great Ape Act"
Previous articles in the "Working Animal" series:
Working Animals (Part One): Commercial sports and Zenyatta, racehorse
Working Animals (Part Two): Groups allege racehorse abuse
INTERESTED IN MORE NEWS AND INFO ABOUT ANIMALS? Visit AnimalBeat.org.
And please check out Katerina's San Diego Dogs Examiner page.
Katerina Lorenzatos Makris (a.k.a. Kathryn Makris) has written 18 books for major publishers and hundreds of articles for publications such as National Geographic Traveler, San Francisco Chronicle, Mother Jones, and two regional news wire services.
A cofounder of AnimalBeat.org, she holds a B.A. in Environmental Science Studies and a lifelong interest in animal issues.
Among her books are Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know about Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press), coauthored with Shelley Frost, and The Eco-Kids, a series of novels for tweens (Avon Books).
Her story "Small Change" placed as a finalist in The Bark magazine's short fiction contest and will be published this year.
She may be reached at youradopteddog@yahoo.com.
Comments