Today
at the Dollar Store where I went to buy cough drops, I looked a bit
bewildered at the different kinds in the display. The cashier was nearby
and
offered to help. She thought I would like the ones with honey. How wrong
she was. I told her no -that I was vegan. Her next choice was for the
herbal
ones. Bingo! Yes, I told her- those would be fine.
She asked me how long I was vegan. I said since 1983. Then she
observed
that I must be among the early ones. Perhaps she was right, and though
she probably was too busy ringing up my purchases, I mentioned that I
became vegan on a bus to Madison, Wisconsin to protest the cruel primate
center there.
Not only would I protest the terrible abusive practices involving baby
monkeys who would be separated from their moms shortly after birth for the very asinine deprivation studies, but I would that very same day learn something which would change my life quite dramatically.
Seated near me was a man who asked me if I liked cheese. Yes, I said I
did. Did I know that cheeses were made from an enzyme from the stomachs of either calves or pigs? Wow! that revelation felt like a punch to my
stomach. Needless to say, I became VEGAN from that moment on, and I never looked
back.
DEJA VU
When I got home from church and turned on the computer- there to my
chagrin was this title -- "University of Wisconsin: Cancel the Unethical Torture and Killing of Baby Monkeys!" Unbelievable. Thirty- one years ago the
National Institutes of Health was bankrolling research on defenseless little baby
monkeys for deprivation studies, and this same National Institute of Health was
also probably about to give a lucrative grant again to researchers for a study which made
no sense whatsoever.
Of course, baby monkeys will feel deprived -hugging a prickly rug-covered
board of some kind in lieu of their living mothers. And please remember -- that
it is our taxes which is funding unnecessary cruelty like this. Didn't they learn
anything THIRTY- ONE YEARS ago when we were there to protest such needless and cruel
experimentation?
But sadly- what might happen today in this primate center will even be more
cruel. Dr. Ruth Decker who is an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's
School of Medicine wrote that she was horrified to learn that her alma mater plans
to conduct highly controversial and cruel experiments which will torture and kill baby
monkeys. She wrote:
"The experiments, led by Dr. Ned Kalin, will take newborn rhesus macaque
monkeys away from their mothers (who have been restrained or drugged against their
will while their baby is removed). The defenseless baby monkeys are then sent to
solitary confinement--where they are terrorized and exposed to anxiety-inducing
stressors including live snakes, painful skin-punch biopsies, and stressful brain
scans. After this relentless torture, they are killed before the age of two."
I could not help thinking of the cruel Nazi doctors who exposed humans to
terrible research cruelty. Human or animal -- both should not suffer for cruel
research projects.
Dr. Decker asked us to join her in condemning this cruel research and to
sign her petition which demands that the University of Wisconsin cancel these
horrific experiments which would only lead to the needless torture and killing of
defenseless baby monkeys.
Thankfully, her petition has already garnered 300,000 signatures. Somehow,
I feel this time around there is hope that this cruel deprivation study on
defenseless baby monkeys will not go forward. Also, this time around -the baby monkeys have
the strong, maternal and caring voice of Dr. Ruth Decker as well as the signatures of
300,000 caring people. Hopefully, this will be enough to derail this cruel
research -- once and
for all.
