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Activists’ Rabbit Role in Doubt By Bradford L. Miner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF Friday, September 22, 2006 Capralogics head suspects business link HARDWICK— The owner of a local biotechnology company said yesterday
he has trouble believing that animal rights activists were responsible
for an overnight raid Sept. 6 during which 23 New Zealand white rabbits
were released from their cages. Stanley D.T. White, founder of Capralogics, 235 Czeski Road, said the
incident being investigated by local police and the FBI may have more to
do with a soured business relationship and resulting litigation than
with animal rights. He declined to give the specifics of the litigation, which he
indicated was ongoing. “Regardless of the statements posted on the Animal Liberation Front
Web site, we have a reputation and a financial interest that depends 100
percent on having healthy, happy, stress-free animals,” Mr. White said.
On the Web site, a poster purporting to be from an unnamed animal rights
group claimed that Capralogics mistreats its animals. Mr. White said he also doubted the authenticity of some of the photos
posted on the organization’s Web site. “I can vouch for all our employees, and state categorically that no
pictures were taken by a Capralogic employee, as the statement on the
Web site claims. Some of the pictures may have been taken by a guard
with a security detail that once worked here, but does not work here
now,” he said. Mr. White said the statement posted on the Web site contained many
incorrect statements. “First of all, Capralogics is a very small, local company and there
is no Capralogics affiliate company in the United Kingdom and Gus
Dalgliesh and Jon Heaney are neither employees nor directors of
Capralogics." The two men and Anthony Haines were named in the communiqué on the
ALF Web site as being Capralogics employees. “I worked with them on a previous project, and as it turns out we’re
mutually being sued by a former client and the litigation is getting
ugly, and this incident could well be a manifestation of that business
dispute,” Mr. White said. He said that during the duration of the “high-value project” there
was a round-the-clock security detail at Capralogics for about six
months during 2004. “They were here 24/7, had complete access to the entire facility and
were taking pictures during that time for documentation,” Mr. White
said. “I highly suspect this to be the source of at least some of the
photos that were taken at Capralogics, because we have a very small
staff, virtually no turnover, and I personally know everyone who works
here,” he added. Mr. White said some photographs were not taken at the Capralogics
lab, specifically the ones of rabbit carcasses being disposed of in the
woods. Taking issue with other statements, Mr. White said, “We are not a
vivisectionist facility, quite simply, because no surgery is performed
here. The animals are inoculated with proteins to produce antibodies and
we subsequently draw blood. It would be akin to giving someone a flu
shot and then coming back and drawing a blood specimen to see that
antibodies had been produced.” He said the lab is very highly regulated as to how much blood may be
drawn from each animal. “Beyond that, it’s to our advantage to keep the animal healthy, happy
and alive for a long period of time producing these antibodies,” he
said. “Again, imagine if you and I were living in a bus station. In such a
highly stressful environment there’s a good chance that we might get
sick and die. To produce a high quality antibody, I have to have healthy
animals, living in a stress-free environment,” he said. For entirely selfish reasons, he said, for the reputation of the
company and its continued financial success, he has to ensure the health
of the animals producing the antibodies. Mr. White said the rabbits have access to both fresh air and
sunshine, and the rabbit barns “do not smell like rabbit barns” because
of the degree to which the rabbits are kept comfortable. “If there is a downside, as it’s been shown, it’s relatively easy to
break in to the facility. It’s not like they were being housed in a
locked, highly secure laboratory,” he said. He said the goats at Capralogics have the same degree of freedom as
the rabbits. Mr. White said that while he has no proof, he believes the
self-proclaimed animal rights activists who claimed responsibility for
the raid are actually pawns in a business disagreement. Because of the nature of the incident, he said, the FBI is actively
involved in the investigation. While Mr. White said Capralogics has “nothing to hide” and is highly
regulated by the federal government, a national research watchdog
organization has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture claiming several violations of federal law. “The staff of this laboratory clearly have a total disregard for the
pain and suffering inflicted on the animals in their care,” said Michael
A. Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now, a
Cincinnati-based nonprofit animal protection organization. In a news release, Mr. Budkie said that in light of conditions
revealed by photos attached to an account of the raid posted on the
Animal Liberation Front Web site, a complaint has been filed with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service. Potential breaches of federal law, he said, could include violations
of regulations for veterinary care, pain relief, and reporting of
painful experimentation. The SAEN complaint asks that the USDA “prosecute Capralogics to the
fullest extent the law allows.” Mr. Budkie said the communiqué from those who carried out the
Capralogics raid that was subsequently posted on the Animal Liberation
Front Web site was “strongly critical of the treatment of the animals at
Capralogics, and used photographs taken by a lab employee to prove its
case.” The communiqué on the Web site asserts: “The photos submitted with
this communiqué, taken by a Capralogics employee, show the way rabbits
are treated by this terrible company. Their bodies are restrained in
headlocks, their skin shaved off so they could be injected with various
compounds. When their experiment concludes they are terminally bled,
meaning they are cut and left to bleed until their life has drained
away.” While providing an account of the raid, the activists responsible for
the incident at Capralogics did not say how they came by the photographs
they claim were taken by a company employee. Karen Foley, a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney John J.
Conte, said the district attorney’s office is not involved in the
investigation. Also see:
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