Letters by Boz

Animal Research Won't Cure Alzheimer's

Top Alzheimer's Disease researcher and neuroscientist Lawrence A. Hansen, M.D, has written an important article questioning the place of animal research in finding a cure for this awful disease (which, incidentally, killed my grandmother). He describes some research methods... 

One particularly egregious example is a decades-long series of highly invasive monkey experiments performed at universities across the country to study neural control of visual tracking. Luckless monkeys have coils implanted in both eyes, multiple craniotomies for electrode placements in their brains and head immobilization surgeries in which screws, bolts and plates are directly attached to their skulls. This is followed by water deprivation to produce a "work ethic" so they will visually track moving objects.

... before concluding

Because such monkey torture will not lead to improved human health, you don't need to be an animal rights advocate to wonder if an ethical cost-benefit analysis might conclude the ends just don't justify the means, especially since rapid advances in sophisticated high-resolution neuroimaging on humans will very soon obviate the need for such invasive techniques.... Most animal experiments on monkeys, dogs, cats and other animals are not related to human benefit, and describing such research as "humane" requires an Orwellian-newspeak definition of the word. "Humane" means to treat with kindness, consideration or mercy, and as long as words have meanings that cannot be twisted Humpty Dumpty-like into whatever we want them to mean, animal experimentation is not and can never be humane.

Based on my readings, many animal researchers simply believe in experimentation for the sake of experimentation. They enjoy the scientific process, and if animals are tortured in the process, so be it, as long as it's in the interest of the great god Science. Whether or not there is any actual relevance to the research seems to be besides the point.

Shooting Cats: Evil

From the great folks at Alley Cat Allies: 

Lately Alley Cat Allies has heard from our supporters and seen more than one news item about people who should know better—elected leaders no less—suggesting that the best way to handle feral cats is to shoot them.

To take action against this horrible practice, go here.

If only it were possible to arm the cats with little tiny firearms of their own...

Slave Bear Rebels, is Killed

A sad story out of Boratesque Kyrgyzstan:

An ice-skating bear with a visiting Russian circus turned on its trainers on Wednesday, killing the circus director and seriously wounding another man during a rehearsal in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan.

via www.cbc.ca

As so often happens, the bear was shot dead. 

It is important to remember that animals forced to perform in these despicable circuses are often cruelly mistreated. Per the Voice for Animals Humane Society, 

This circus featured bears wearing skates and playing hockey. It is difficult to imagine what the trainers must have done to these animals to make them perform this act. While in Alberta the bears were housed at Doug’s Exotic Zoo in Red Deer in individual cages so small that most of the animals were unable to turn around or stand up to their full height.

I recommend reading more about the subject here. 

Marketing Geniuses

On recent ticket orders for Morrissey’s upcoming west coast gig,  Ticketmaster has allowed Denny’s to run a cross promotion offering a free hamburger. Why isn’t this okay? Only because Morrissey is one of the most outspoken vegetarian celebs ever!

via www.ecorazzi.com

I hope Morrissey raises holy hell over this. It's easy to choose sides here. The ex-leader of one of the greatest rock bands ever (the Smiths), or fountain of greed Ticketmaster and purveyor of disgusting near-food Denny's. Time, perhaps, to revisit a particularly relevant Smiths song...

Newest Sadistic Thrill for Animal Hating Scum

Police in Shelton, Conn. have arrested 19 individuals in connection to a canary fighting ring. In order to satisfy their deranged need for bloodsport, scummish people would apparently watch as these beautiful creatures were made to fight to the death. What type of person looks at this defenseless creature and thinks to himself, "I want to see that bird fight for its life!"? A sick person. I could care less about "culture" or "tradition." Animal fighting -- chickens, dogs, horses, whatever -- is just disgusting and wrong, and those who indulge in it are mere sadists.

 

Hot-Buttered Torture

I've already given up meat and poultry, and am moving to greatly reduce my consumption of dairy products and eggs. This video from an undercover PETA investigation of a Land O'Lakes dairy supplier shows why:

Animal Lovers for Obama

The Humane Society Legislative Fund (HSLF), a non-partisan organization dedicated to animal welfare, has for the first time in its history endorsed a presidential ticket: Barack Obama and Joe Biden. They explain the endorsement here.

In a nutshell, John McCain's selection of animal-slaughtering snowbilly Sarah Palin as his VP pick is what pushed the HSLF to endorse Obama-Biden:

While McCain’s positions on animal protection have been lukewarm, his choice of running mate cemented our decision to oppose his ticket. Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-Alaska) retrograde policies on animal welfare and conservation have led to an all-out war on Alaska’s wolves and other creatures. Her record is so extreme that she has perhaps done more harm to animals than any other current governor in the United States.

Palin engineered a campaign of shooting predators from airplanes and helicopters, in order to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for trophy hunters. She offered a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf as an economic incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more of the animals, even though Alaska voters had twice approved a ban on the practice. This year, the issue was up again for a vote of the people, and Palin led the fight against it—in fact, she helped to spend $400,000 of public funds to defeat the initiative.

What’s more, when the Bush Administration announced its decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Palin filed a lawsuit to reverse that decision. She said it’s the “wrong move” to protect polar bears, even though their habitat is shrinking and ice floes are vanishing due to global warming.

The choice for animals is especially clear now that Palin is in the mix. If Palin is put in a position to succeed McCain, it could mean rolling back decades of progress on animal issues.

I wholeheartedly concur. I supported Dole in '96, and Bush in '00 and '04. Largely because of McCain's pandering choice of hick-magnet Palin as his running-mate, I will not be supporting the GOP this time around.

Cat Hating Hicks

This is truly repugnant. Idiots Out Wandering Around (Iowans) in the podunk town of Randolph are now offering a bounty on stray cats. Kill a kitty, get $5. I'm sure all the animal-hating psychos who get off on killing beings weaker then themselves will be thrilled. The mayor, Vance Trively, complains that the cats are overrunning the town. Of course, the humane, moral way to deal with the problem would be to contact Alley Cat Allies and set up a trap-neuter-release program, which would incidentally be more effective anyway. But no...

The mayor said several suggestions have been made, including neutering, trapping and asking for donations.

"You couldn't get a donation to save a cat in this town for the life of them," Trively said.

What does it say about the hickfolks of Randolph that they would prefer to pay to slaughter cats then to get them fixed?

Sino-Sadism

The current issue of The Economist features a short piece on the inhumanity towards animals that is rampant in China, as well as the very small movement arising to change the situation. First, how badly are animals treated in China?

Animals are treated dreadfully in Chinese farms, laboratories, zoos and elsewhere. There are grim factories where thousands of live bears in tiny cages are tapped for medicinal bile. At safari parks, live sheep and poultry are fed to lions as spectators cheer. At farms and in slaughterhouses, animals are killed with little concern for their suffering.

    Reformers face an uphill battle. Primitive folk medicines often require substances found in rare animals, leading to the wanton slaughter of endangered species such as tigers. Pathetically, a common reason Chinese men seek out these remedies is because they hope to enlarge their penises. Sorry, but to borrow a phrase from an old malt liquor ad, dead tigers ain't goin' make yo jimmy thicker. Still, brave souls are trying to change things.

According to Zhou Ping, of China's legislature, the National People's Congress, few Chinese accept that animals have any rights at all. She thinks it is time they did, and in 2006 put forward China's first national animal-welfare law. Her proposal got nowhere, and there is no sign of progress since. “There is so far”, she says, “only a small voice calling for change.”

Campaigners are not discouraged. Jill Robinson, a Briton, spends most of her time in Sichuan province, caring for bears rescued from bile farmers, who are compensated in return for shutting down their operations. She says support from local young people is rising fast, and attitudes are starting to change. If China can stop binding women's feet, she asks, why should it not abandon cruelty to animals?

    It is very sad that China, a nation which gave the world the beautiful, nature-friendly philosophy of Taoism, now is known for environmental degradation and barbarism towards animals. And of course, a fair amount of barbarism directed at their own people as well. But they get to host the sham spectacle of the Olympics, so I guess they're an OK country after all, right? Maybe the Olympic Committee will honor their host nation by featuring  the disgusting Chinese sport of horse-fighting! From the  Daily Telegraph:

To start the horses fighting, a mare in heat is usually presented to the animals and quickly removed.... Horses that do not immediately engage in battle are whipped, or gunshots are fired to provoke them. The stallion left standing is declared the winner.

    Shockingly, these fights are "even included on some tourist itineraries in parts of the country."

Maybe as China gets richer, things will change for the better. Sadly, I'm not holding my breath (though I would if I were in smog-ridden Shanghai!), Incidentally, as a longtime Hawaii resident, I am proud to report that local actress Maggie Q. is very active in trying to change attitudes about animals in China. Good for her! And more importantly, good for China's animals! (By the way, Maggie was great in the last Die Hard movie.)

Forclosure's Silent Victims

The whole housing/subprime loans/foreclosure mess is taking its toll on some truly innocent victims: animals. As reported in the Associated Press, people facing foreclosure of the homes they couldn't really afford in the first place are cavalierly abandoning their animal companions, sometimes leaving them in fields, sometimes just locking them up in their former residences and leaving them there to rot. As reported on About.com

Pets who are the casualty of foreclosures are often left indoors, without food, water or the comforts of a temperature-controlled environment. Experts say a dog will become dehydrated within 24 hours without water and could die in extreme heat within a few days.

    What kind of person does this? Are they so damn lazy and irresponsible that they can't even make an effort to find an animal shelter? Of course, what kind of person buys a property they cannot afford? That's right... an irresponsible person, a person who should not have pets, since they probably have a hard enough time taking care of themselves.