Here’s a roundup of this week’s biggest news stories related to animal research—all the recent media coverage you need to know right now to be the most effective activist for animals in labs.
Species Spotlight: Ants
Rise for Animals, 7/9/2024
Did you know that ants can save each others’ lives by providing medical care to those in need? Learn about this astonishingly complex animal: 📰 Full Story →
Police Charge 18 After Research Dog Thefts
BBC, 6/28/2024
“Eighteen people have been charged with the theft of 20 beagles during a break-in at a facility that breeds animals for laboratory research.”
“MBR (Marshall BioResources), which runs the site, breeds and sells animals to the medical testing industry.” 📰 Full Story →
Harvard President Garber Visits Club of Madrid, Faces More Animal Rights Activists
Sally E. Edwards, 6/29/2024
“Garber visited Madrid on Thursday to attend an event commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Harvard Club of Spain . . . as Garber entered the venue, a group of roughly 10 people affiliated with the animal rights group Abolicion Viviseccion chanted ‘torturador,’ Spanish for ‘torturer.’ The protester rallied to denounce experiments involving monkeys in a Harvard Medical School laboratory run by professor Margaret S. Livingstone.”
“The rally in Madrid came nearly one month after an incident at Harvard’s Alumni Day, where animal rights activist Brittany A. Drake glitter-bombed Garber as he prepared to deliver a speech onstage.” 📰 Full Story →
Drowned Hamsters, Botched Euthanasia: NJ Animal Research Lab Fined $43K by USDA
Michelle Rotuno-Johnson, 7/1/2024
“A private research laboratory [Intervet, Inc.] . . . faces a $43,500 fine from the U.S. Department of Agriculture after more than two dozen animal deaths . . . The facility is associated with Merck Animal Health.”
“According to the USDA, the facility euthanized 16 rabbits by carbon dioxide chamber on Jan. 8, but did not expose the animals to the gas for long enough, and did not check all the animals were dead. One rabbit had survived, and was found moving around the freezer where the euthanized animals were kept the next day after chewing through the bag….”
The USDA also noted “ . . . multiple incidents where hamsters’ cages flooded, resulting in 26 deaths” and that “[t]wo hamsters also died of dehydration in February 2022….” 📰 Full Story →
UMass Prof’s Monkey Research at University of Wisconsin Comes to a Halt
Scott Merzbach, 7/1/2024
“In the National Institute for Health-supported ‘sleep fragmentation and cognition in aged marmosets’ study proposed by UMass professor Agnes Lacreuse . . . a dozen monkeys at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center were to be blasted with sounds 60 to 90 decibels loud, in the range of noise made a lawn mower to vacuum cleaner, every 15 minutes each night for up to two months.”
“In the end, though, the experiment, supported with a $199,375 grant, lasted only one night for six monkeys before the grant monkey ran out at the end of April….”
“ . . . the professor continues to get significant backing from the federal government, with about $5.5 million for 18 projects since fiscal year 2011, based on documentation in an online National Institute for Health database.” 📰 Full Story →
RIPTA Refuses to Let the Public Know “Brown and Rhode Island Hospital Think You’re a Pig”; Doctors Sue
PCRM, 7/2/2024
“The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) is shielding two of the state’s most powerful institutions from public criticism, according to a national medical ethics group, which filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the agency in federal court today.”
“Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital have for years come under scrutiny for using live animals to train emergency medicine doctors, a practice replaced by 97% of medical centers. But when the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine tried to run ads on bus shelters across Providence declaring ‘Brown and Rhode Island Hospital Think You’re a Pig,’ RIPTA rejected that proposal.” 📰 Full Story →
Tiny Songbirds Are Masters of Memory and Adaptation
Chrissy Sexton, 7/3/2024
“ . . . a groundbreaking study reveals that blue and great tits are capable of utilizing impressive episodic-like memory for their food foraging activities. This trait was once thought to be exclusive to humans.”
“ . . . these small songbirds remember not only their dietary past but the location of their food source and the time they discovered it.” 📰 Full Story →
Inside Grim Monkey Testing Lab Where Marmoset Named ‘Chewie’ Tried to Escape Torture Hellhole
Adam Cailler, 7/6/2024
“ . . . a marmoset called Chewie was one of many kept in a cage for the purposes of experiments to be undertaken on them [at the Lecreuse Lab in Wisconsin].”
“They claim that [his] tail was ‘accidentally’ torn off after [he] became caught in an air duct, [he] was found with ‘sustained bruising’ [in his] mouth, and was in generally horrific condition.”
“There are also local reports claiming that Chewie tried to escape – which is how [his] tail got cut off.” 📰 Full Story →
Africa’s Largest Airline Accused of Flying Hundreds of Endangered Monkeys to the United States for Use in Animal Testing
Mateusz Maszczynski, 7/7/2024
“ . . . Ethiopian Airlines ‘reportedly’ transported 250 long-tailed macaques from Ethiopia to the United States. The endangered primates were then transported to animal testing labs.”
“ . . . PETA [] claims Ethiopian Airlines ‘appears to have ties to an alleged illegal international monkey-smuggling ring’.” 📰 Full Story →
🔎 You can read our thoughts on the trade of endangered macaques, or you can take action to protect these monkeys now.
‘Live Well Now’: China Celebrity Couple Praised for Ending Lab Ordeal of Severely Injured Beagle
Zoey Zhang, 7/8/2024
“A celebrity couple in China who adopted an injured laboratory dog have drawn attention to the plight of animals used for research.”
“ . . . the couple are seen rescuing the shivering dog from bushes and then taking [her] to a vet, where medical checks revealed [she] had just given birth and was malnourished. Vets found a number on [her] ears, which showed the animal had been used in laboratory experiments. An ultrasound test revealed [her] spleen was missing.”
Another video “showed her struggling with stairs due to growing up in a cage…” 📰 Full Story →
New Research on Animal Communication Reveals How Much We Still Don’t Understand
Seth Millstein, 7/9/2024
“ . . . elephant communication would be impressive even if they didn’t have names for each other. African elephants speak to one another by using the vocal folds in their larynxes to create a constant, low-frequency rumbling, known as an infrasound. It’s inaudible to humans, but elephants can pick it up from up to just over 6 miles away….”
“ . . . naked mole rats chirp and squeak to communicate with one another” and “a 2021 study found that each colony has its own distinct accent, and that mole rats can tell which colony another rat belongs to based on their accent.”
“When a foraging worker bee finds resources that might be useful to her nestmates, she communicates this by circling repeatedly in a figure-eight pattern, waggling her abdomen as she moves forward. This is the waggle dance.
The nature of this dance is complex, and communicates valuable information to the other bees….”
“ . . . only recently have scientists begun to decode bat vocalizations, and as it turns out, they’re much more complex than previously thought . . . researchers found that a single vocalization can contain information about who the speaker bat is, the reason the vocalization is being made, the speaker bat’s current behavior and the intended recipient of the call.” 📰 Full Story →
U of M Faces Over $15K Fine for Alleged Animal Abuse
Deja Davis, 7/10/2024
“The [USDA] has fined [t]he University of Memphis over $15,000 for federal crimes involving alleged animal abuse and the death/injury of 30 animals.”
“According to reports, the abuse happened over a span from 2022-2024. An independent national research watchdog . . . says the University violations included the death of 12 voles by overheating/suffocation, the death of 15-mole rats, two hamsters, and one bird connected to injuries.” 📰 Full Story →
When It Comes to Romantic Gift-Giving, Humans Aren’t Alone. Snails, Birds and Flies All Woo Each Other With Presents
Joshua Rapp Learn (Updated by Rudy Molinek), 7/10/20
“Scientists have found that even some of the creepiest, crawliest creatures on the planet take part in amorous gift-giving.”
“Male dance flies, katydids and certain spiders offer a free meal to the objects of their affection; snails include a shot of fortifying nutrients with their sperm.” 📰 Full Story →