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Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!
S. A. E. N.
"Exposing the truth to wipe out animal experimentation"

Articles and Reports

Letter to President Robert H. Bruininks of the University of Minnesota

1081-B St. Rt. 28 PMB 280
Milford, Ohio 45150
513-575-5517
www.saenonline.org 

6/15/09

President Robert H. Bruininks
202 Morrill Hall
100 Church Street S.E.
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455

President Bruininks,

I am contacting you today in regard to experimental procedures used by several researchers at the University of Minnesota (UM). According to USDA reports filed by the University of Minnesota (UM), during 2007 (the most recent report available) 232 animals were used in experimentation at UM without anesthesia or pain relief of any kind.

The animals used in these projects include dogs, rabbits, monkeys and many species of wildlife. It is appalling that these animals are allowed to experience pain and distress without benefit of any pain relievers, research of this nature is clearly barbaric.

Dogs were used in experiments which injected painful substances directly into the knee, rabbits develop toxic shock, and primates are deprived of water and denied access to other members of their species. Most of the wild animals were marked by chopping off sections of their toes.

George Bernard Shaw said: “Atrocities are not less atrocities when they occur in laboratories and are called medical research.” There are some things that simply should not happen. This category would include depriving animals of water (a basic need), isolating social animals, injecting painful compounds into the knees of dogs, chopping off the toes of other animals – these are all things that are inexcusable.

I officially request that you commission an investigation of all experiments at the University of Minnesota that are painful or cause distress without use of anesthesia. These projects should be evaluated in terms of adding pain relief and in terms of replacing the animals with alternative methodologies, or eliminating the projects entirely.

I will look forward to your response within five business days.

With Respect For All Life,

Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T.,
Executive Director, SAEN

See also :
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
USDA Inspection Report - 30 Nov 2007

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