Pledging to quit animal tests, VW tries again to shake Nazi origin WOLFSBURG, Germany––Monkeys are no longer breathing diesel fumes. Volkswagen publicists are likely breathing sighs of relief. Nazi tactics and ideology live on elsewhere. Examples include the use of the Nazi-developed pesticide Compound 1080 to kill a targeted goal of two million feral […]
Animals In The Third Reich: Pets, Scapegoats, and the Holocaust
by Boria Sax Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., (370 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10017), 2000. 206 pages, paperback. $19.95. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Hitler was a vegetarian, probably in emulation of the composer Richard Wagner, Boria Sax asserts, but claims, as vegetarian historian Rynn Berry and others have documented, that “Hitler was probably […]
Hurricane Maria: monkeys hold on, horses endure
“Oh my goodness, how could anything have survived this?” CAYO SANTIAGO, Puerto Rico––Hurricane Irma mostly missed the renowned Cayo Santiago rhesus macaque colony, on an island just east of the Puerto Rican mainland, but Hurricane Maria hit it head-on, at full Category 5 strength. The thousand-odd macaques on Cayo Santiago are ninth generation descendants from […]
Fewer dogs & cats used in U.S. labs than ever before
Guinea pig, hamster, & rabbit numbers also low, but monkey use was up. Mice & rats? Who knows? WASHINGTON, D.C.––Are U.S. laboratories using more animals than ever before, or fewer, at least of most species? Laboratory animal use data from 2016 released on June 9, 2017 shows record reported lows in use of dogs, […]
SAEN asks USDA to close lab that paid near-record fine
Repeated Animal Welfare Act violations found in follow-up inspection EVERETT, Washington––Citing repeated and continuing alleged violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act by the Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories’ facility in Everett, Washington, Stop Animal Exploitation on June 19, 2017 asked USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service western regional director Robert Gibbens to terminate […]
Why is animal use in labs up, even as public moral approval is down?
Anti-vivisection organizations claim victory while running on old momentum WASHINGTON D.C.–– Fewer Americans than ever before––just 51%, barely more than half––believe biomedical research on animals is ethically acceptable, according to 2017 Gallup polling data. Paradoxically, total use of animals in experiments appears to have soared to an all-time high, according to research funded by People […]
Campaign to pull the plug on Navy dolphin program takes to the air
Dolphin base looks like a sewage treatment plant SAN DIEGO, California––Campaigning for an end to marine mammal use by the U.S. Navy, former dolphin trainers Ric Trout and Russ Rector got a big boost on April 27, 2017 from CBS News 8 reporter Steve Price, who extensively aired recent video clips of the main […]
Thumbing nose at lawsuits, USDA-APHIS hides more info
Deletes documents posted in response to Freedom of Information Act requests WASHINGTON D.C.––Hit with a second lawsuit, draft legislation, and letters from 119 members of Congress demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture restore web sites including Animal Welfare Act enforcement information, the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service has instead thumbed its collective […]
USDA-APHIS reposts less than 1% of deleted law enforcement info
More activists & animal charities sue WASHINGTON D.C.––The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service on February 17, 2017 reposted some of the inspection reports on animal research facilities that it deleted from the USDA-APHIS web site two weeks earlier, on February 3, 2014, but not enough to quell protest or […]
Near-record fine too light for SNBL labs, say SAEN, AWI, & PETA
Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories rapped for deaths of 38 macaques, among other Animal Welfare Act violations EVERETT, Washington––Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have all denounced as too light the near-record $185,000 fine and other penalties issued against the Japanese-owned company […]