By Ingrid E. Newkirk
Recently I received a letter from a college president that reminded me of two beagles. Linda and Kim are no longer on this planet, but their last three and a half years were happy. One hopes they did not wonder if they would ever go back to where they came from.
I found them in a place no one wanted me to look: on a high floor of Philadelphia's Drexel University. And however you may feel about the use of animals for experimentation, please consider these two dogs and how we might, at the very least, eliminate some of the suffering in laboratories.
I was there to give a talk to a group of students who were members of the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science–twenty-somethings who for reasons known only to them, were preparing to work in a laboratory. Before I got up to speak, the students were shown a slide show that painted a picture of filthy rats spreading disease, unreasonable animal rights activists yelling slogans and kindly physicians healing the sick, thanks, of course, to animal experiments. I argued the case for modernizing science and implementing non-animal methods of teaching and research.
Then I asked to see the labs. This made the faculty very uncomfortable. Perhaps that was because they had told me, over and over again, how respectful of animals they were. It's really not possible, they said. Time is short; experiments might be in progress. I pushed. Just a peek? Surely that would be okay? Well, perhaps there was a small lab I could see where the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science pet dogs were kept.
The lab consisted of a room off a corridor. Neon ceiling lights. Cement floors. Whitewashed walls. Two chain link runs. A drain. In one pen, there was a little pig. No toys, no grass, no sunshine, no fresh air, no comfort, no companionship, no nothing. In the other, Linda and Kim. They had each other, but that was it, and they had gone a bit mad.
Linda and Kim whirled like dervishes, spinning on the cement, chasing themselves into a mental state that must have allowed some escape from the monotony, the nothingness of their cell.
What are they used for, I asked?
Once a year, said the professor, they are used to show the students how to conduct a physical exam, how to take blood.
Wouldn't it be better to have the students go to a veterinary hospital for that experience?
Oh, no, that just wouldn't work, too many variables, too difficult to arrange, too many students. And not to worry, the students love these dogs and let them out on weekends sometimes, onto the cement walkway this side of the drain.
What are the dogs' names?
Well, they don't really have names.
It took a while, but, with persistence on my part, the beagles were released. The whirling stopped within the first week of their transfer from cement to the soft grass of a real yard, from cement to living room couch, from being "loved" by laboratory workers to being really loved. It took several vet visits to treat them for their skin conditions and bad teeth and the other ailments the students and instructors hadn't noticed.
After that, it took three and a half years of pushing Drexel just to get a response to my repeated requests for the University to switch from using dogs in such frivolous, cruel ways. My latest inquiry was finally answered. According to Drexel President Dr. Constantine Papadakis, the Drexel University College of Medicine "has been using computer modeling and simulation rather than live subjects, for over three years."
It is possible after all. Most things are if you push hard enough for change.
Ingrid E. Newkirk is President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Enviroshop is maintained by dedicated NetSys Interactive Inc. owners & employees who generously contribute their time to maintenance & editing, web design, custom programming, & website hosting for Enviroshop.