Scientific procedures within
several university of California facilities routinely deprive rhesus
monkeys of water, confine them to restraint chairs, and literally bolt
devices to their skulls. These procedures have been labeled “unethical,”
“distressful” and causing “great pain and suffering” by veterinary and
scientific experts across the U.S.
SAEN, a National Research
Watchdog organization, has gone to the University Of California Board Of
Regents to demand a meeting whose purpose is the elimination of these
procedures and the initiation of a sanctuary retirement program for
primates from University of California laboratories. Inspection tours of
all UC labs have also been demanded.
“Severe restraint or
confinement, such as that involving restraint chairs, is one of the most
stressful things that can be done to a primate . . . the situation is
exacerbated when the motion of a primate is further limited by the use
of surgically implanted restraining bars. Experiments that utilize these
procedures are unethical,” said Dr. Bruce Max Feldmann, UC Berkeley Lab
Veterinarian for 10 years
“One of the most stressful
things that can be done to a wild animal is to restrain her or him. As a
result, nonhuman primates have to be ‘trained’ to sit in these chairs
because it is unnatural and highly stressful for them to be confined in
this manner. To make matters even worse for them, restraining devices
may be surgically implanted so that the animal’s head will not move at
all” Dr. Nedim C. Buyukmihci, Emeritus Professor of Veterinary Medicine,
University of California, Davis.
“Scientific experts have roundly criticized these
horrific procedures,” said Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T.,
Executive Director, SAEN. “Now it is time for the
Board of Regents to act.”
Other experts criticizing these
experiments include Dr. Nicholas Dodman Director of the Tufts University
Animal behavior clinic: “ . . . withholding water for up to 22 hours per
day for five days a week in order that the monkeys are motivated to work
for fluid reward is unconscionable.”
The statements of the panel of six scientific experts are available upon
request.
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