Submitted by Rick Bogle with IDA
http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/ohsu/
Oregon Health Sciences University
The Oregon Regional Primate Research Center, now
incorporated into the Oregon Health Sciences University, OHSU-Star Park,
has roughly 2,500 monkeys, mostly rhesus macaques. Each one of them has
a unique personality with an individual life story to tell. I know
because I have been working there as a technician for the past two
years.
Working in the Psychological Well-Being department, I
put my heart into trying to improve the abnormal behaviors displayed by
our research monkeys. Despite my every effort, I was unable to effect
meaningful change. I realized that one, or even a group of
well-intentioned technicians cannot "fix" an industry with no real
intention of changing. Through my personal observations, I now have a
clear picture of the systemic flaws of the animal research industry.
They acknowledge they're just a business. Grounded in assembly-line
research with an unwritten code of acceptable losses, the industry's
standard operating procedure is to cut corners and increase profits.
Under the guise of improving human health, monkeys are abused, both
outright and through neglect.
After personally getting to know these highly
intelligent, socially complex animals, I cannot remain silent while
thousands linger miserably in bare cages all alone. I am coming forward
to share my failures, and give you a glimpse behind the locked doors and
barbed wire of one of the National Institute of Health's Regional
Primate Research Centers.
Go on to A Life
Shared: Memories in Black and White
Return to 3 January 2001 Issue
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