To: Secretary of Defense Leon Edward Panetta
From: Hope Bohanec, In Defense of Animals
hope@idausa.org
Submitted by fax: (703) 571-8951
December 13, 2011

On behalf of our 100,000 members worldwide, In Defense of Animals (IDA) requests an investigation into the brutal beating of a sheep by a soldier with a metal baseball bat. This November 2011 incident was caught on video in Afghanistan and has circulated around the Internet tarnishing the reputation of the U.S. Defense Department. The video shows a child looking on and several other soldiers laughing and supporting the beating. It took 12 blows with the sheep convulsing and several attempts at escape before the helpless animal finally died. IDA demands an investigation be conducted into this incident and appropriate prosecutorial action taken for all those involved.

Animal cruelty is punishable by military law under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for “public animals” like bomb-sniffing dogs and military horses. The Commission on Military Justice in 2009 recommended that criminal charges be brought against military personnel who abuse non-public animals like dogs, cats, and farm animals, but it is unclear if the military has heeded the recommendations of the Commission.

This is not the first instance of animal cruelty perpetrated by U.S. soldiers caught on video. Marine David Motari was filmed throwing a puppy over a cliff in Iraq in a 2008 video. This violent and senseless act eventually led to his discharge from military duty.

There is ample scientific documentation showing that people who abuse animals are also a danger to other people. Violent acts towards animals are often precursors to acts of human violence, including domestic violence, sexual violence, and murder. Prosecuting animal mistreatment carried out by military personnel is an important step towards preventing and reducing the risk of violent incidents to other soldiers and civilians as well as their spouses, children, friends and neighbors.

A defense of the video alluded that this killing was carried out to celebrate the Muslim holy festival of Eid where goats are often ritually slaughtered. However, Halal guidelines strictly call for humane slaughter of animals to cause minimal stress. It is prohibited to cause suffering to an animal and is recommended to slaughter an animal with a single kill stroke to the neck. This was obviously a slow, frightening, and painful death for this sheep and not in line with Muslim Halal guidelines.

In Defense of Animals requests a full investigation into this incident and for the perpetrators to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Thank you.

The National Institutes of Health wants you to believe that chimpanzee experimentation is necessary. It so badly wants you to believe this that the agency just two months ago began to use your tax dollars to fund a propaganda campaign for “educating the public” regarding the “importance of chimpanzees in biomedical research.”

Why is the NIH seemingly so desperate? Perhaps because the concept of ending this morally and scientifically bankrupt practice has become so mainstream, on so many fronts – scientific, political, ethical, financial – that on Sept. 28, Scientific American, the most prestigious general interest science magazine in the world, called for a ban, explaining, “Why it is time to end invasive biomedical research on chimpanzees.”

One of the major reasons for its call for the ban was the groundbreaking McClatchy Newspapers special report “Chimps: Life in the Lab,” published last April. This special report was based on McClatchy’s independent review of thousands of pages of chimpanzee medical records.

Scientific American noted that the special report’s review of these records and the details of experiments “painted a grim picture of life in the lab, noting disturbing psychological responses in the chimps.”

The NIH’s use of tax dollars to fund the abuse of chimpanzees, as documented in McClatchy’s special report, is especially timely. Congress has created a Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to produce a plan by November 23 to reduce our debt by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The NIH spends more than $30 million annually on chimpanzee experimentation; ending it would save more than $300 million. It would also be completely consistent with the emerging scientific, political and ethical consensus elucidated by Scientific American: “The time has come to end biomedical experimentation on chimpanzees.”

But the NIH seems stuck in a different time – circa 1970s, when the current chief of hepatitis research at the NIH, Dr. Robert Purcell, began experimenting on chimpanzees, as did his counterpart at the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Feinstone. On Aug. 11, a public workshop was convened by the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine Chimpanzee Committee, which was commissioned by the NIH to determine if chimpanzees are “necessary” for biomedical research.

Dr. Purcell, who personifies the anachronistic mind-set of the NIH, the agency pushing the chimpanzee “model,” referred to chimpanzees as “it” – things, furry test tubes – in his presentation to the committee.

In stark contrast, at the same workshop, the director of HCV Biology for GlaxoSmithKline, the program officer for research and development at the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, and the director for drug safety assessment at Genentech testified that chimpanzees are not needed for development of cutting-edge therapies such as monoclonal antibodies and vaccines for diseases such as malaria. GSK stopped using chimpanzees in 2008. Genentech has also stopped, and told the committee that its informal poll of “six or eight” other biotech firms found that they, too, did not use chimpanzees.

Even the FDA – which produced a letter supporting the NIH’s propaganda campaign – does not require chimpanzee data to approve vaccines or therapies.

In September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that a petition requesting that captive chimpanzees be classified as “endangered” – which would effectively end chimpanzee experimentation – presented “substantial” evidence that such a reclassification may be warranted, and initiated a review of the classification that includes a call for public comments by Jan. 31, 2012.

On the political front, the bipartisan Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act of 2011 currently has 106 co-sponsors in the House, while the European Union banned chimpanzee experiments last year. The United States is the only country in the world that currently allows large-scale chimpanzee experimentation.

Jane Goodall spoke before the committee last August, explaining, “From their point of view, it’s like torture. They are in prison and have done nothing wrong.”

After her powerfully moving words, a hepatitis researcher from University of Miami said, “I’ve never worked with chimps, but just listening to Jane Goodall, I got a guilt trip.”

The emerging scientific, ethical and political consensus is clear: the time has indeed come for chimpanzee experimentation to end. The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction can make that consensus a reality while saving U.S. taxpayers $300 million.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Eric Kleiman is research director of In Defense of Animals; he initiated the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the NIH that resulted in the release of thousands of pages of chimpanzee medical records.

This essay is available to McClatchy-Tribune News Service subscribers. McClatchy-Tribune did not subsidize the writing of this column; the opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of McClatchy-Tribune or its editors.

2011, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Charleston, Miss. (August 17, 2011) – In Defense of Animals (IDA), the international animal protection organization that operates Hope Animal Sanctuary in Grenada, Mississippi, applauds the conviction of Sherry White and Ricardo Simpson of Charleston, Mississippi on charges of animal cruelty.

IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary rescue team aided the Charleston Police Department with the seizure of six severely neglected dogs on June 29. On August 15, Charleston Municipal Court Judge Steve Ross handed down a guilty verdict for the neglect of six dogs. White and Simpson were each fined $600, given suspended six month jail terms, and ordered to pay $123 in court costs.

Five of the six dogs were emaciated and without shelter. One nearly hairless dog was forced to crouch because his chain had become bound around the tree he was tethered to. He had no access to water. The water the other dogs had was contaminated. Four of the dogs tested heartworm positive and all were infested with internal and external parasites. The dogs are recovering under the care of IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary.

White was convicted of failure to provide food, water, and shelter for the dogs she kept chained in her backyard. White spread the blame for the condition of the dogs, incriminating Simpson by claiming four of the dogs belonged to him. The dogs suffered from hunger, lack of shelter, parasite infestation, heartworms, and dermatitis.

The city of Charleston calls on In Defense of Animals for their expertise and assistance in cases of animal cruelty. The city is not equipped to handle seized animals, but has a zero tolerance for animal abuse. According to Doll Stanley, director of IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary and the leader of the rescue team that saved these dogs, “We have a great working relationship with the city of Charleston and the animals we rescue can only be saved due to community support for IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary. We expect to care for the dogs for months before they can be placed, something that couldn’t happen in most municipal shelters.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Doll Stanley, 662-809-4483, doll@idausa.org

Memphis, Tenn. (July 15, 2011) – In Defense of Animals (IDA), the international animal protection organization that operates Hope Animal Sanctuary in Grenada, Mississippi, has added $3,000 to the reward fund for information about Kapone, the Shoup family’s adored pit bull, who has been missing since he was picked up by a Memphis Animal Services (MAS) animal control officer. This brings the total reward fund to $8,000. Kapone disappeared on June 24th, when he and the family’s other dog, Jersey, got out of their fenced yard. Neighbors witnessed both dogs being loaded onto an MAS truck. Over the past two weeks, nearly 3,000 IDA members have sent emails complaining about MAS to Memphis city officials and Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam.
 
On July 13th, Animal Control Officer Demetria Hogan was arrested in connection with the disappearance of Kapone. Police had been searching for her since an arrest warrant was issued. Hogan, a convicted felon, has a record that includes possession of a controlled substance, identity theft, forgery, burglary, passing bad checks, and theft of property. She has also been reported for failure to appear in prior cases, where animal cruelty allegations were dropped. Hogan has been charged with two counts of animal cruelty but is not in custody.
 
Hogan was hired under the City of Memphis Second Chance Program that provides jobs for convicted felons. She was about to be the subject of a disciplinary hearing for a “major infraction” at MAS but it was postponed because of the police investigation. Hogan is still employed with MAS, drawing her salary until the court hearing. Doll Stanley, the Director of IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary in Grenada, Mississippi, said: “at a minimum, Hogan should not be allowed to have contact with animals until she is exonerated from any connection to the disappearance of Kapone or the other animals missing from MAS.”
 
Fears abound that Kapone and other dogs were sold for dog fighting, which is a significant problem in Memphis. Although there is now a suspect in this case, In Defense of Animals is offering $3,000 for anyone who provides information leading to the conviction of others involved in the disappearance of Kapone, or evidence leading to the location and safe rescue of Kapone.
 
Director Stanley of IDA’s Mississippi sanctuary added: “the disappearance of Kapone while in the custody of Memphis Animal Services is chilling, inexcusable, and a violation of the rights of Kapone’s family. Our society recognizes dogs and cats as companions and even family members. How can Memphis city officials betray the trust of citizens by fostering the repeated neglect and disappearance of companion animals?”

Elliot M. Katz, DVM, founder of In Defense of Animals, added: “Not knowing whether Kapone is alive or dead, whether he is safe or injured, the terrible fear, anxiety, pain, and sense of loss felt by Kapone’s family is similar to the suffering of a family whose child has been lost or kidnapped. Please do all in your power to right this terrible wrong. If you know where Kapone is, please notify the police immediately.”

Information concerning Kapone’s location should be reported to Memphis Police Department dispatch at 901-545-COPS or CrimeStoppers of Memphis, 528-CASH (2274).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Doll Stanley, (662) 809-4483, doll@idausa.org

In Defense of Animals applauds the three-part “Special Report” on chimpanzee experimentation by McClatchy Newspapers investigative reporter Chris Adams, which has been featured in papers nationwide including the Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News, Kansas City Star, Miami Herald, Arizona Republic, and Charlotte Observer; high-profile blogs such as the Huffington Post and DailyKos; and linked to by international media such as the Toronto Star and India Times.

At over 5,700 words accompanied by video, pictures, and graphics, the McClatchy series is almost certainly the most in-depth reporting of the issue of chimpanzee experimentation ever published. It has exposed for the first time to a worldwide audience the profound mental and physical anguish that chimpanzees endure in labs. Such suffering, together with the scientific move away from using chimpanzees, makes this series a game-changer in the fight to end chimpanzee experimentation once and for all.

McClatchy – the third-largest newspaper chain in the U.S. – based its series on thousands of pages of chimpanzee medical records obtained by IDA in a groundbreaking Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health (NIH). IDA won that five-year lawsuit after a federal judge issued two resounding opinions against the NIH, and ordered the agency to provide IDA a public interest fee waiver for the ongoing release of tens of thousands of pages of medical records for all chimpanzees at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico.

It is unmistakably clear why the NIH fought for years in federal court to prevent the release of these records. They provide the first ever detailed look behind the locked doors of chimpanzee experimentation laboratories, and reveal the shocking physical and psychological suffering needlessly inflicted on our closest genetic cousins, who for decades have been have been subjected to painful experiments that continue to this day.

IDA Research Director Eric Kleiman submitted the FOIA request to the NIH and initiated the winning lawsuit based on that request, with the generous pro bono legal assistance of Spriggs & Hollingsworth, co-founded by attorney William J. Spriggs. After receiving thousands of pages of records from the NIH pursuant to a settlement of the lawsuit, Kleiman approached McClatchy for an exclusive and provided the records unconditionally for McClatchy’s review regarding the chimpanzees’ lives, and deaths, as documented in their medical records.

The McClatchy expose is only the tip of the iceberg. IDA views these medical records, which the NIH must continue to provide to IDA for years, as the next phase in our longstanding fight to end chimpanzee experimentation. These records comprise the most compelling evidence yet of the scientific and moral bankruptcy of experimentation on chimpanzees, and why it must stop now.

Portland, Ore. (April 19, 2011) – Millions of Americans are filing their taxes this week, unaware that their tax dollars support “cash cow” scientists, some of whom receive millions of dollars in grants each year, as well as a large population of chimpanzees growing old in laboratories.

But some people are aware of this waste, and this week they are demanding change.

In Defense of Animals (IDA), a long-time opponent of the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC), will host a protest in Portland this week. On Wednesday April 20, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., activists will demonstrate at the main campus of Oregon Health and Science University, which runs ONPRC. They plan to highlight the career of Kevin Grove, an ONPRC scientist who is paid over $3 million a year to keep 150 monkeys obese, as a good example of poor public policy.

During World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL), spanning two weekends from April 16 to April 24, In Defense of Animals (IDA) and activists around the world are rallying their forces and speaking out for the untold numbers of animals tortured and killed each year in the name of science. Dozens of events, including massive protests and theater performances, are taking place in France, Canada, and over 20 American cities.

In recent years, this battle has intensified. A 2009 Pew Charitable Trust poll found Americans split almost 50/50 for and against animal experimentation. Earlier this month, in a desperate preemptive strike before World Week for Animals in Laboratories, Research Saves – a front group created by industry lobbyists Foundation for Biomedical Research and National Association for Biomedical Research – put up billboards around the country distorting the issue into a choice between a rat and a little girl.

“The real choice isn’t over the life of a rat or a girl,” said IDA spokesperson Tony Carr. “The real choice is whether to squander public money by giving it to opportunistic scientists who have built careers by fattening up monkeys or addicting mice to meth, or to use it effectively by supporting underfunded prevention and education programs that attack the root cause of our lifestyle diseases. The real choice is whether to test drugs and cosmetics in a way that doesn’t predict whether they will cause harm to humans or to develop personalized medicine, which will allow any substance to be tested on your own cells first. The real choice is between doing what we have always done, or progressing.”

Maryland Representative Roscoe Bartlett, who used chimps in his scientific research, introduced The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act in Congress last week. The Act (S. 810 / H.R. 1513) would ban invasive experiments on all great apes and would retire all apes held by the federal government to suitable sanctuaries.

This week, IDA and activists nationwide are contacting Congress, urging them to co-sponsor this historic legislation. They are also sending letters to the chief administrators of the National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, demanding that these agencies take immediate, concrete action towards reducing the number of animals in experiments each year.

For more information on World Week for Animals in Laboratories, visit www.wwail.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tony Carr, 503-249-9996, Tony@idausa.org

Join with IDA to protest circus cruelty at the Shrine Circus in Los Angeles. Last year’s demo drew more than 40 people, and we hope to top that this year, sending a clear message to the Shriners, the media, and circus patrons that animal abuse is not entertainment.

The Shriners usually contract with Circus Gatti to present the show, which features two elephants, Tiki and Debbie (also called Patty), tigers, and horses. One elephant is used to give rides between shows. Circus Gatti has been cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for failure to meet minimal federal standards for the care of animals used in exhibition.

In circuses, animals are brutally trained to perform unnatural tricks, chained, confined to small cages and pens, and trucked around the country for months on end.

You can help make this the biggest Shrine Circus demo ever and bring an end to the use of animals in circuses.

When: Saturday, April 9 at 1 p.m.

Where: Shrine Auditorium, 665 W. Jefferson Blvd., L.A. 90007 (1 block West of Figueroa, across from the USC campus). Please note: The entrance to the circus is at the back of the building (one block north of Jefferson Blvd.); this is where the demo will be held.

Signs and flyers will be provided.

For more information, contact Bill Dyer, bill@idausa.org.

Additional demos:

Saturday, April 9 at 6 p.m.
Sunday, April 10 at 1 p.m.

Attend “Hands Around the Lake” event in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, Saturday, March 26, 12:30 p.m., Prospect Park Lake, Enter at Vanderbilt Street & Prospect Park SW
Join with members of “For the Love of Prospect Park Geese” as they demand the city end its contract to slaughter hundreds more of our beloved NYC geese and their goslings. Special guest speakers include State Senator Eric Adams and NYC Councilmember Letitia James. For more information contact Mary Beth: frannykit@yahoo.com.

Tell Mayor Bloomberg To Cancel City’s Contract With USDA To Kill Geese

Many New Yorkers are aware of the infamous killing of 368 Canada geese and their goslings at Prospect Park last summer, but what they don’t know is that hundreds of New York City geese remain imperiled and are likely to be killed this summer, unless the city cancels its contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Click here to send a fax to Mayor Bloomberg today!

The Prospect Park killings last summer were merely the tip of the iceberg. Under its contract with the Wildlife Services Division of the USDA, more than 1,600 Canada geese were rounded up and gassed throughout NYC in the summer of 2010, in addition to 1,200 geese who were killed in the same manner in 2009. Over 2,800 Canada geese have been cruelly exterminated at dozens of parks and grassy spaces throughout NYC in just the past two years.

The city claims the geese are killed to make air travel safer, but killing geese is not the answer. Geese repopulate the areas where they’ve been removed, proving the futility of this method.

DNA analysis of the feathers found in the engine of the US Airways flight that collided with a flock of geese in 2009 showed that these Canada geese were migratory and not residential. Canada geese inhabiting the city’s parks and grassy areas are typically non-migratory, making any plan to kill geese throughout the city even more absurd and fruitless. The mass killing must stop!

Now an anonymous donor from Ridgeland, Mississippi has added $500 to the reward fund established by IDA, bringing the total to $1,000. Anyone with information on this or any other criminal act against animals should contact IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary at (662) 809-4483.

A neighbor told Mr. Pickens he’d heard shots the night of December 8. Miss Kitty, Mr. Pickens’ 10-year-old grey Quarter Horse, sustained five bullet wounds: two to her chest, one behind her right front leg, and another two to her right side. It appeared that Miss Kitty ran about 100 yards before succumbing to the wounds.

Mr. Pickens’ other horse, a 3-year-old Quarter Horse named Lil’ Bit, sustained a bullet wound to each front leg; one to her right front knee may have crippled her.

Doll Stanley, Director of IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary, said: “Mr. Pickens visited us right after confirming his horses had been shot. He said the Grenada County Sheriff’s Department responded to his report of the shootings. We were greatly disturbed by the report that the horses had been senselessly shot in what appears to have been a random act of violence.”

Ms. Stanley added that “acts of violence towards animals, especially defenseless and vulnerable animals, are perpetrated by anti-social people who often also inflict suffering upon human beings.” In Defense of Animals hopes the offer of a reward will interest someone with knowledge of the crime to come forward.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Doll Stanley, (662) 809-4483, doll@idausa.org; Lee Pickens, (662) 226-0884

Grenada, Miss. (Dec. 9, 2010) – In Defense of Animals, an international animal protection organization, has posted a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who callously and maliciously shot two horses in their pasture on 4897 Sweethome Road, Grenada, MS.

On December 9, Lee Pickens received a call from his cousin, James Bled, a resident on Sweethome Road, Grenada County, MS informing him that one of his horses was “down.”  Mr. Pickens discovered that one of his horses had been killed and the other wounded.

Miss Kitty, Mr. Picken’s  10-year-old grey Quarter Horse, sustained five bullet wounds: two to her chest, one behind her right front leg, and another two to her right side.  It appeared that Miss Kitty ran about 100 yards before succumbing to the wounds she sustained.

Mr. Pickens’s other horse, a 3-year-old Quarter Horse named Lil’ Bit, sustained a bullet wound to each front leg; one to her right front knee may have crippled her.

“Mr. Pickens visited us right after confirming his horses had been shot.  He said the Grenada County Sheriff’s Department responded to his report of the shootings.  It’s not certain what was documented. Small caliber cartridges remained on the site and Mr. Pickens said no photos had been taken.  We were greatly disturbed by the report that his horses had apparently been senselessly shot in what appears to have been a random act of violence,” said Doll Stanley, Director of IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary.

In Defense of Animals hopes the offer of a reward will interest someone with knowledge of the crime to come forward.  A neighbor told Mr. Pickens he’d heard shots the night of December 8th.   IDA’s Hope Animal Sanctuary Director Stanley notes that random acts of violence towards animals, especially defenseless and vulnerable animals, are perpetrated by anti-social humans who often go on to inflict suffering upon human beings as well.

Anyone wishing to share information on this or any other criminal act against animals may contact In Defense of Animals at (662) 809-4483.

Contact: Doll Stanley, Director IDA-HAS, (662) 809-4483,  doll@idausa.org,
Lee Pickens, (662) 226-0884