Charge Animal Abusers At North Carolina Research Lab

[Ed. Note: For background information, please see Victory for Animals Brutalized in North Carolina Lab.]

FROM Kinship Circle

North Carolina's Professional Laboratory and Research Services, Inc. (PLRS) employees who abused dogs, cats and rabbits need to be prosecuted under ALL applicable county, state and federal laws.

CONTACT

FEDERAL & STATE REGULATORY AGENCIES

U.S. Department of Agriculture / Animal Plant Health Inspection Services
USDA-APHIS-AC / 4700 River Road, Unit 84 / Riverdale, MD 20737-1234
ph: 301-734-7833; fax: 301-734-4978
email: ace@aphis.usda.gov, aceast@aphis.usda.gov
Cindy Smith, Administrator, APHIS: Cindy.J.Smith@usda.gov
Dr. Chester A. Gipson, Deputy Administrator, Animal Care:
Chester.A.Gipson@usda.gov
Michael Gregoire, Deputy Administrator Biotechnology Regulatory Services
(BRS): Michael.C.Gregoire@usda.gov

N.C. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER SERVICES

Steve Troxler, Commissioner of Agriculture
1001 Mail Service Center / Raleigh, NC 27699-1001
ph: 919-733-7125; fax: 919-733-1141; email: Steve.Troxler@ncagr.gov
Executive Staff: David.Smith@ncagr.gov, Howard.Isley@ncagr.gov,
Richard.Reich@ncagr.gov, David.McLeod@ncagr.gov

ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA LAW ENFORCEMENT

District Attorney Frank R. Parrish, District 1
202 East Colonial Avenue / Elizabeth City, NC 27909
ph: 252-331-4743; fax: 252-331-4807
email [published in 2009]: frank.r.parrish@nccourts.org

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FEDERAL & STATE REGULATORY AGENCIES
ace@aphis.usda.gov, aceast@aphis.usda.gov, Cindy.J.Smith@usda.gov,
Chester.A.Gipson@usda.gov, Michael.C.Gregoire@usda.gov,
Steve.Troxler@ncagr.gov, David.Smith@ncagr.gov, Howard.Isley@ncagr.gov,
Richard.Reich@ncagr.gov, David.McLeod@ncagr.gov

LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
frank.r.parrish@nccourts.org

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

***UPDATE SINCE THIS CASE WAS PUBLISHED***
Professional Laboratory and Research Services Inc. (PLRS) has been shut down
and must surrender some 200 dogs and dozens of cats used in experiments. If
you are concerned about PETA’s handling of these animals, PLEASE CONTACT
PETA DIRECTLY. Kinship is not involved with the placement of these abused
laboratory animals. Please take action below to make sure their abusers are
punished -- an important legal precedent for ALL animals suffering in labs.

SAMPLE LETTER (use your own words!)

Regulatory Agencies and District Attorney Parrish:

I am shocked by findings from nine months inside Professional Laboratory and Research Services Inc. (PLRS) in Corapeake, North Carolina. According to an undercover PETA investigation at this research laboratory, from December 2009 to September 2010 hundreds of animals suffered flagrant cruelty.

In light of this investigation, I understand that PLRS will close and surrender some 200 dogs and dozens of cats. This is fantastic news. Still, the abuse that occurred was so sadistic it warrants criminal charges.

PETA's undercover footage shows diseased and injured dogs, cats and rabbits. Their sores fester in waste encrusted cages. Some are showered in abrasive chemicals and bleach when staff clean enclosures with the animals inside them. The investigator recorded PLRS staff cursing animals as they kick, toss, drop and drag dogs. Employees brutally haul rabbits around by their ears and smash cats into cages.

I respectfully ask District Attorney Parrish to investigate allegations of animal abuse at PLRS. If arrests are made, please advocate maximum incarceration and fines. In North Carolina, "intentional deprivation of necessary sustenance" and the "malicious torture" of any animal is now a Class H felony (per Article 47. Cruelty to Animals. S 14-360. Cruelty to animals; construction of section - AMENDED 2010).

In one experiment, a test chemical seeps into the necks of 57 cats who seize and hemorrhage from their noses and mouths. Their intolerance to the substance is obvious. Yet, they are dosed a second time on the very same day. Medical care, for all intents and purposes, is fictional at PLRS. A veterinarian apparently stops by for just one hour most weeks.

I hope a USDA-APHIS formal investigation results in penalties for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Clearly, PLRS provided insufficient veterinary care and hygiene, and mistreated animals in their care.

I encourage regulatory agencies and law-enforcement authorities to take a hard look at PETA's video and investigative journals. Malicious abuse, neglect and torture of any animal merits punitive action. I look forward to your updates in this disturbing case.

Thank you...

=========

From BioSpotVictims.org

The FDA and EPA should also be contacted concerning PETA's undercover investigation of Professional Laboratory and Research Services, Inc.

The FDA and EPA need to determine if the allegations of systemic abuse of animals, substandard conditions, use of ill or diseased animals in studies, and the inadequate training, skill, and supervision of personnel are true, and if it compromised research at the facility -- research that FDA/EPA relied upon to make regulatory decisions. They also need to determine if these problems exist at other contract research facilities that fall under the jurisdiction of the FDA/EPA.

Here is contact information for the FDA:
Bernadette Dunham, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Director
Center for Veterinary Medicine
Food and Drug Administration
7519 Standish Place, HFV-12
Rockville, MD 20855

Thank you for everything you do for animals!