NEWSANIMAL RESEARCH

Only a handful of airlines still engage in the transportation of primates destined for research labs as cargo. Now imagine this scenario: A major airline partakes in this practice, but after becoming aware of the cruel future that awaits their cargo, the airline decides to change their policy and opt out of carrying research-bound primates.

Sounds good, right? Well, hold your victory dance, the story doesn’t end there. The airline then is told that they cannot stop transporting primates until a hearing takes place that will decide if they can change their own policy.

This is the reality that Air Canada is facing.

Actress Kristin Bauer, who plays  the vampire Pam on HBO's True Blood, has launched a campaign on Change.org with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect captive chimpanzees.

The Cargo Cruelty campaign, led by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, is making headway in the fight to stop airlines from transporting primates for research experimentation.

Sarah Kite, Director of Communications at BUAV, sent me the latest updates, stating: “The BUAV's Cargo Cruelty campaign has been successful in persuading an increasing number of airlines to stop their involvement in this cruel trade.”

The newest airlines to adopt a transport ban on research-bound primates are Caribbean Airlines and Lufthansa. Previously, Lufthansa adopted the policy not to transport primates internationally, but was required by the German government to continue shipping primates within the country for the German research industry.

This is no longer the case. Lufthansa announced to BUAV yesterday that the airline has enacted a full and “self-imposed embargo” on transporting research primates.

In order to train for severe burns, gunshot wounds, and amputations that can occur in combat, military medics use live animals. At the end of the training session, if the animals are not dead from the trauma they are subjected to, they are euthanized.

The switch to non-animal models is gaining momentum in medical research facilities across the United States. This move is not only for animal welfare but for more accurate results.

Now, House Resolution 1417 aims to bring the same superior training procedures to our armed forces. This would not only save the lives of more than 6,000 animals per year, it will provide our military personnel with better training methods that cost less.

Also known as the Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training (BEST) Practices Act, the bill aims to replace pigs, goats and monkeys in Department of Defense combat trauma training with human-based alternatives.

Before buying airplane tickets for your next trip, you might want to find out if your luggage is sharing cargo space with primates destined for a research lab. Depending on the airline, you could be flying with cruel cargo.

American Airlines recently joined the league of airlines that refuse to ship primates as cargo when the primates will be used in research experiments. After discussions with British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, AA updated its policy to clarify that the airline does not support research, experimentation or exploitation of primates.

BUAV is urging the remaining airlines accepting research-bound primates as cargo to adopt a transportation ban. Today, to further advance their Primate Cargo Cruelty campaign, BUAV has launched a video about the role that airlines play in promoting the research industry.

Good news for our woolly friends: Massachusetts General Hospital has recently agreed to stop using live sheep in its Advanced Trauma Life Support courses.

The compassionate decision came after a long campaign from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, with added pressure from a Change.org petition. PCRM celebrated the recent announcement, calling it a "monumental achievement."

Massachusetts General Hospital will now use simulators in its trauma training, joining 95 percent of medical centers that use non-animal based methods of training.  There's only a few stragglers left in the United States that still use animals for trauma training, and only one ATLS course in Massachusetts that still uses live animals: Baystate Medical Center.

What better way to celebrate the third annual Save the Frogs Day today than with the news that Mary Ellen Alexander, the Florida middle school teacher who ignored the state’s Choice in Dissection Law and attempted to bully her student into participating in frog dissection, has been held acountable for her lack of professionalism and compassion?

After feeling pressure from public scrutiny, the Collier County School District has issued Alexander a disciplinary warning letter (the letter will remain in her file) and ordered her to undergo sensitivity training. Through the 2012 school year, she will not have a class of her own. Instead, she will shadow a teacher in a different school.

While this is certainly a step in the right direction, the Collier County School District has yet to accept an offer from PETA to pay for computer software that will replace animal dissection.

World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week is this week (April 16-24), and there's no better way to kick it off than to ask your leaders to co-sponsor the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act.

The United States is the last developed country in the world to keep a large number of chimpanzees — about 1,000 — for medical experimentation, but the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act aims to change that.

The Humane Society of the United States estimates that ending biomedical research on great apes could save taxpayers up to 25 million dollars a year and an additional tens of millions of dollars every year for the cessation of breeding programs.

If passed, the bill will end invasive biomedical research on chimpanzees, free all federally captive chimpanzees in labs to sanctuaries, end funding for invasive research both nationally and internationally, and finally, end all funding for breeding programs of federally owned chimps.

Mauritius is a small island nation off the coast of Africa that is becoming known for more than its sandy beaches and tourist hot-spots. The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection has uncovered evidence of the cruel capture and breeding of wild primates to be sold for research experiments.

Located approximately 560 miles east of Madagascar, Mauritius has become the second largest supplier of long-tailed macaques for use in research. The primates are abundant on the island. Since they are not indigenous, they are openly persecuted. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has listed long-tailed macaques under Appendix II, which warns that even though the species is not threatened with extinction now, if trade continues to be loosely regulated, the species could become endangered.

Wild-caught macaques are either sold directly to other countries for research or, the more likely scenario, are kept on breeding farms to produce captive-born babies for sale to research companies. The $40.7 million a year industry exports to countries across the world, including the U.S., Europe and Israel. This translates to as many as 10,000 macaques annually.

For nations like the United Kingdom, wild-caught adult primates are illegal to be imported for research. However, their offspring are not. This loophole is one aspect of BUAV’s fight to Stop the Baby Trade.

Editor's Note: The Michigan Humane Lobby Day for April 13, 2011 has been cancelled due a conflicting event at the capitol. The new date will be noted in the comments when it's rescheduled. In the meantime, you can still take action to stand up for Michigan's animals.

For those of us Michiganders concerned about the progress of animal welfare legislation in the Great Lakes State, mark your calendars: Wednesday, April 13th is Michigan Humane Lobby Day. The day is an opportunity for residents to meet with their representatives to discuss animal welfare issues.

The Humane Society of the United States and Puppy Mill Awareness have organized the event to give animal advocates the rundown on pending legislation and tips on how to lobby for these causes. Humane legislation on topic for the day includes Class B dealers, gas chamber euthanasia and puppy mills.

Class B dealers make their money by obtaining dogs for minimal payment and reselling them to research. With overcrowding in shelters, some are allowing the transfer of pets to Class B dealers before the required hold period is up. Owners come to the shelter to reclaim their lost pet only to discover the shelter sold him to be a part of a research experiment.