Livin’ Veg

Take Action Friday: Help Chimps March 19, 2010

As I mentioned last week, Fridays are now a day when I will post a take action. This weeks issue is about nine chimps. This group of Chimps have been used in the past for cognitive research. The study involving them has ended. They are being held at University of Louisiana-Lafayette’s New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), a facility that has a proven record of cruelty. HSUS did an undercover investigation that showed 338 possible violations of animal welfare. Let’s not let this facility keep these chimps. They have already been tested on. They deserve a break. They deserve to live out the rest of their days on a sanctuary behaving like animals instead of like test subjects.

Click here and fill out the information in the form. Personalize it if you have the time, but if not, sending it as a form letter is great too. Voices make a difference. Let’s all put our voices together.

Pigs Buried Alive In Snow For “Research” Stopped By Activists January 20, 2010

When animal testing comes up in conversation, many people bring up the usual, “But animal testing saves lives and helps develop cures to diseases.” This may be true in part, but the vast majority of animal testing has nothing to do with human diseases. Most are done for students to learn, for products to be tested or other inquiries having to do with seeing how much a body can take emotionally and physically.

Case and point. A study conducted by scientists in Vienna has just been put to a stop due to an outcry from animal activists. What were they doing? They were burying pigs alive in snow to see “what factors make it possible for humans to survive an avalanche in an air pocket until rescued without suffering permanent brain damage.” And yes, the pigs would be buried until they died. The scientists claim that the pigs feel no pain because they are heavily sedated.

As I said above, they were trying to discover the factors that make it possible for a human to live under snow after an avalanche. However, since no one can control how a person becomes trapped, this test is indeed just a cruel and ridiculous indulgence of curiosity. Not exactly the kind of reason lives should be used.

Read the article here…

Russia’s Space Monkeys - Where Are They Now? September 9, 2009

The answer is: trapped behind chain link fencing. At least their many descendants are behind bars. And Abkhazia (used to be a part of Georgia) wants to resume animal testing on the creatures. Apparently in 1991 after the Georgian Abkhazia conflict and separation, the original testing facility was left without funding and many primates either escaped into the hills or died. However, some were left and those primates have reproduced. Currently these primates are a tourist attraction but soon, like their ancestors in the space program, they will be left to the researchers.

Watch this video on the primates and get the full story. I only wish it would have a happy ending.