Kinship Circle | Letter Campaigns

5/1/09: Profit From Misery Ц Dogs And Cats Sold To Research

SOURCE OF INFORMATION / BACKGROUND

ХааDying To Learn: Investigation Reveals Supply Line of Dogs and Cats in Higher Education
ХааThe American Anti-Vivisection Society
ХааVictim of Pound Seizure: Meet Cruella (E6993)

Every year, hundreds of animals in shelters become victims of pound seizure, as they are purchased by class B dealers who then sell them at an enormous profit to research and education facilities, where they are used in invasive and painful experimental procedures. Such was the case with Cruella, a shepherd cross found in Carson City, Michigan, wearing a purple collar and chain, indicating she was once someone's companion. Considered a stray, Cruella was housed in pen 20 at Montcalm County Animal Control until relinquished to R&R Research, a class B animal dealer, and became known simply as E6993Е Later, traveling well over 1,000 miles with 13 other dogs, E6993 was sold to the University of Florida, where veterinary students named her Cruella. While there, over 7 months, she was sedated or anesthetized 7 times, often for hours at a time, and used in medical training procedures, including endoscopy, abdominal surgery, and ultrasound exercisesЕ READ REST OF CRUELLA'S STORY

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Х Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121

The Honorable Representative [YOUR REP'S NAME HERE]
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Senators [YOUR SENATORS' NAMES HERE]
The U.S. Senate, U.S. Capitol Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

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Dear Representative and Senators:

Congress can help save thousands of companion animals like Bo Obama (or like your own furry family members) by proposing legislation that outlaws the sale of random source animals to biomedical research, product testing and education. Your swift action can spare cats and dogs from invasive surgeries, toxic dosing, pain, loneliness and death inside a laboratory.

Controversial class B dealers buy animals from shelters (pound seizure), free-to-good-home ads, and other "random sources" for lucrative sale to research facilities. Some employ "bunchers" to steal dogs from yards and cars. Any shelter that engages in pound seizure with a Class B dealer has forsaken its role as a refuge for lost or surrendered animals.

I respectfully ask you to introduce legislation that ends the sale and shipment of "pets" to research centers nationwide. In a recent study from AnimaLearn, a nonprofit working with teachers and students to achieve quality humane science education, 52% of reviewed universities utilize dogs and cats in life science, veterinary, and medical instruction.

This is astonishingly irresponsible, given strides in in-vitro cell technology, computer automation, and innovations such as the simulated immune system Modular Immune In Vitro Construct (MIMIC). Old-fashioned animal research keeps the U.S. out of sync with global progress.

Researchers at Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and elsewhere have begun to replace animals with complex microtissues made from cultured cells. Brown's Jeffrey R. Morgan, medical science and engineering professor, led a team that assembled cells three-dimensionally to replicate live human organs. This human-centric approach not only yields data more relevant to people, but also cuts costs to confine, feed, dissect and discard animals.

Random source Class B dealers are notoriously inhumane, yet our laws let them profit from the misery of gentle animals. Congress not only has the power to shut them down, but to also restrict the publicly despised practice of pound seizure. I strongly urge you to advocate legislation that protects companion animals by banning class B dealers and pound seizure.

Thank you,

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