The stories I am left with are usually incomplete. I may
not have a beginning, or at least no real substance of one. The
information may start with only a date of birth, leaving many other
details missing. I read life stories with huge holes scrawled by
careless biographers.
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donation will help us to continue fighting for the freedom of these
animals!
He is called only #V000335, and he was born in 1999. He came to the
University of California, San Francisco, from a supplier called Valley
Biosystems. We know nothing else of his early life. He was fitted with a
collar in April of 2006, at seven years of age. In March of 2007, at the
beginning of his involvement in experimentation, his weight was 9.65 kg
(21.25 lbs). On July 23, 2007 his skull was cut open. In between he was
weighed several times. He was killed on 4/25/08. To him death was
probably a welcome relief from a life locked away in a barren cage,
ending the misery that his life had become.
His record contains several descriptions of cleaning of wound margins
during December of 2007. The wounds being cleaned are the openings which
had been cut in his skull. The margins of the wounds are cleaned and
treated with silver nitrate -- a chemical which burns and is often used
to stop superficial bleeding. However, in his case it is used to stop
bleeding on skin margins around the “implant(s)” which cover the holes
in his skull. In January of 2008, he begins to receive daily pain
relievers to control the pain he experiences from the use of silver
nitrate. These cleanings also discuss the use of antibiotics, so he must
have an infection. One of these notations also mentions that there is no
“malodor” in his room, as though this was a surprise.
On 1/29/08 his caretaker notes a “slight odor around skin margin.” On
1/31/08 he is evaluated by a veterinarian because he is not eating, has
lost weight and has “malodor.” His weight is recorded on the next day
during diagnosis -- 7.9 kg (17.4 lbs). He is said to have “Chronic
recurrent implant infection, weight loss, inappetence, malodorous
exudate at margins & w/i (within) chamber.” His infection has seriously
advanced to the point where a stinking liquid is flowing out of his
head. He is also described as having a “deep malodorous cavitation with
necrotic tissue visible.”
Silver nitrate is continuously used to “control” granulation tissue. In
other words, His body is trying desperately to heal itself, to close the
wounds on his head, but one part of his “treatment’ has the purpose of
keeping the holes open, so the experiment can continue. In addition to
the silver nitrate, the area is also cleaned with a disinfectant and
hydrogen peroxide. Antibiotics continue. Three days later he is
described as “scratching around silver nitrate treated area & looks
discomforted.” The next day he is reported for inappetence and for “head
tucking.” He is clearly suffering.
On 2/11/08 his weight has declined to 7.7 kg (17 lbs). His appetite is
still low and his infection continues. By 2/12/08 his temperature is
101.2. On 2/18 he is “picking at the scabs” around the implant, and he
has vomited. On 2/19/08 he is “sitting on perch w/head hung low in from
of ceramic heat lamp.” The same treatment continues. By 3/7/08 he has
totally stopped eating the monkey biscuits that make up a substantial
part of the diet of captive monkeys.
On 3/20/08 his weight has declined to 7.4 kg (16.3 lbs.) and the next
day he is described as “Head down, picking implant margin, basically no
change in condition.” He is sick, and he is denied the one thing which
would allow him to heal. The “chambers” are not removed from his skull.
On 4/3/08 he is given a physical exam. He is described “poor appetite,
poor body condition, moderately poor skin turgor . . . markedly reduced
range of motion of jaw & potential fibrosis due to inflammatory disorder
or infection. . . . Fetid odor obvious w/moderate purulent discharge &
non-vital tissues around implant margins.” The infection around the
implant in his head has progressed to the point that the tissue around
the implant is dying. It has become difficult for him to eat due to
stiffness of his jaw caused either by inflammation or by trauma.
On 4/18/08 he has one positive moment. He is described as “playing with
enrichment box.” By 4/23/08 his weight has plunged to 6.8 kg (15 lbs), a
decline of 30%. What would be what a 150 pound human would look like after losing 45
pounds – a walking skeleton.
On 4/25/08 he is killed, finally.
Unlike many others, this incident did not go unpunished. The United
States Department of Agriculture cited the University of California, San
Francisco (UCSF), as violating the Animal Welfare Act for the way in
which this monkey was treated. He should not have been allowed to suffer
so long, and become so debilitated. The officials of UCSF not only
disputed the citation, they requested that “inflammatory” words like
“malodorous” be removed from the documentation.
They objected to the
very words their own animal care staff had used to describe the
condition of this unfortunate animal. We must wonder if their real
motivation for these official conundrums was to prevent words like
“malodorous” from becoming public knowledge.
Our senses generate powerful images and reactions. They place pictures
in your mind, sensory images. However, vision is not the only sense that
can generate an image. Smell can be just as powerful as sight. The words
used in the records of this animal bring up many sensations – images and
smells. “Fetid odor . . . malodorous exudate . . . deep malodorous
cavitation with necrotic tissue.” “Poor body condition . . . head hung.”
Pictures run through my mind. I watch as a healthy monkey has holes cut
into his head, and chambers attached. Now he is sick, depressed, losing
weight. His head is so terribly infected that it oozes a rank, purulent
liquid. Fetid, malodorous, decay. He has become skeletal. I feel as if I
could vomit.
Life is a sacred thing that we do not have the power to replace. We do
have the power to destroy it. Even worse, we have the ability to turn
life into something so abhorrent that continuing it is nothing less than
sadism.
A government report quotes a statement by the laboratory: “The
University of California at San Francisco is committed to using
laboratory animals in such a way as to minimize pain or discomfort.”.
Your
donation will help us to continue fighting for the freedom of these
animals!
See: University of California,
San Francisco
USDA Inspection
Report & Suspension - 24 May 2008
Denial of Appeal of USDA 24 May 2008 Suspension Report
Appeal of USDA 24 May 2008 Suspension Report
Necropsy Report -
Primate #V000335
Medical Records
- Primate #MMU35184
Animal Use Report - 2008
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