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.
Meet the Men Ready to Profit from 30,000 Monkeys’ Suffering
Rise for Animals, 10/17/2024
Here’s the scoop on three men, 30,000 monkeys, and one horrifying plan.
Safer Human Medicine — a new company owned and led by three animal research careerists with ties to the country’s largest exploiters of primates for experimentation — is seeking to establish the U.S.’s largest nonhuman primate breeding and holding facility in Bainbridge, Georgia. This facility would import endangered primates, force them to breed, and then sell them into torture at U.S. research facilities, all while endangering the health of Bainbridge’s human and nonhuman populations and degrading the local environment. 📰 Full Story →
⚠️🐒 30,000 monkeys are counting on you. Sign the petition now to tell the Bainbridge City Council: Do not let Safer Human Medicine bring primate exploitation to Bainbridge, GA!
Animal Advocates Urge Chimp Relocation Amid Deaths at Alamogordo Facility
Chandler Farnsworth, 10/11/2024
“For more than a decade, animal rights advocates have tried to give some of the oldest and sickest chimpanzees in the state a better home but with little success. Now, following the death of several chimps over the last year, those advocates say the federal government needs to do better.”
“Since October 2023, five adult chimpanzees at the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) on the Holloman Airforce Base have died; leaving a total of 23 chimps.”
“A federal judge ruled that the chimps be relocated to Chimp Haven, a 200-acre sanctuary in Louisiana. However, since the 2022 ruling, the chimps have stayed in Alamogordo . . . since the start of 2024, more than 130,000 people have contacted the agency asking them to follow through with the judge’s ruling.” 📰🎥 Full Story →
Manitoba Animal Advocacy Group Helps Release Dogs From Animal Testing
Alexandra Holyk, 10/13/2024
“Five beagles were bred and raised in a laboratory in Houston, Texas, and were supposed to be euthanized once the research was complete. But thanks to Manitoba-based advocacy group ‘The Beagle Alliance,’ the pups will get a second chance at life.”
“‘They are harmed. They’re confined,’ . . . ‘They do come out of the laboratory with varying degrees of PTSD and anxiety, so they need time to decompress. And they’ve never been in a normal home,’….” 📰🎥 Full Story →
Swiss to Vote Again on Banning Animal Testing
SWI swissinfo.ch, 10/14/2024
“More than 100,000 signatures had been collected by the end of last week in support of the initiative, according to a press release issued by the Community of Interest for the Initiative for the Prohibition of Animal Experiments in Switzerland.”
“The popular initiative calls for an amendment to the Federal Constitution to ban animal experiments, as well as the breeding and trade of animals intended for such experiments.” 📰 Full Story →
What Went Wrong with Autism Research? Let’s Start with Lab Mice.
Celia Ford, 10/14/2024
“ . . . the research many autistic people say they’d like to see – is still only getting about a quarter of the money allocated for autism research in the US . . . autism isn’t currently something that can be addressed by traditional drug development pipelines. Yet, funding for projects studying the biology of autism more than quadrupled since 2008, while funding for projects finding better ways to help autistic people in day-to-day life fell or remained stagnant.”
“A cynic might wonder why scientists are continuing to pursue this line of research, when both autistic self-advocates and a growing number of leaders in biomedicine are saying that it doesn’t make any sense . . . people in the autistic community jokingly refer to autism research as a ‘geneticist’s Full Employment Act’ – a parallel to the proposed Autism Full Employment Act, which would create incentives for workplaces to hire autistic people.”
“The bottom line is that we don’t need more mouse models of autism or of autism-like behaviors.” 📰 Full Story →
Rats Have a Very Complex Social Life
Andrei Ionescu, 10/24/2024
“ . . . the social dynamics of rats are not as straightforward as previously believed.”
“While rats were evaluated using standard personality and social tests – tests commonly employed in behavioral and drug research – the results of these tests did not correlate strongly with the actual behavior observed within the groups. This suggests that rats’ social behavior, socialization, and relationships to their traits are far more complex than what can be inferred through simple testing mechanisms.”
“ . . . the paradoxes in rat group behavior suggest that their social interactions cannot be easily categorized or predicted.” 📰 Full Story →
National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) Releases First-Ever ‘Laboratory Animal Care Audit’
NAVS / Accesswire, 10/16/2024
“The National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) [] published its inaugural ‘Laboratory Animal Care Audit’ . . . that documents violations of animal care standards in research laboratories across the United States.”
“The report, now available on NAVS’ website, provides a fact-based analysis of documented violations, presenting them facility by facility . . . . giving readers an unfiltered look at the conditions animals endure in research environments.” 📰 Full Story →
‘Fright for Future’ Haunted Maze to Highlight Issues Like Animal Testing, Pollution
Rhea Caoile, 10/16/2024
“A Halloween attraction intended to be both frightful and educational is making its return to San Diego for its third year. Fright for Future is a haunted maze that takes guests through installations centered on different issues….”
“Examples of this year’s exhibits include the ‘Mad Scientist,’ a look at the procedures of animal testing….” 📰 Full Story →
Feds Decide Against Protecting Monkeys Trafficked into Labs
Rise for Animals, 10/16/2024
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) has decided not to protect long-tailed macaques despite overwhelming evidence of their endangerment. With this decision, the USFWS has shied away from further considering “the most heavily exploited primate species on the planet” for Endangered Species Act protections. 📰 Full Story →