Animals Burned, Mutilated and Neglected at University of Texas

An insider at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) has contacted PETA to report that dogs, monkeys, sheep, goats, ferrets, and mice are being used in cruel experiments in which their bodies are burned, mutilated, and cut open and that these animals are also suffering as a result of inadequate veterinary care, improperly trained staff, careless handling, and severe neglect.

The whistleblower says that experimenter Daniel Traber has subjected sheep, pigs, and mice to third-degree burns on up to 40 percent of their bodies and forced the animals to inhale smoke from burning cotton. UTMB experimenters also intentionally caused spinal cord and sciatic nerve injuries in sheep. One sheep who was subjected to back surgery reportedly could not stand for three days following the surgery and was given no pain relief.

Our source also reports the following:

• UTMB faculty members cut open dogs and surgically implanted tubes into their colons for irritable bowel experiments. One dog reportedly died during surgery, and another died in pain following surgery when staff members did not provide anesthetics and were apparently unable to use the monitoring equipment correctly.
• A macaque monkey—a highly-social being for whom social contact is necessary to maintain physical and mental health—was confined by herself to a stainless steel cage in a room where she had no contact with and no opportunity to see or hear other nonhuman primates.
• Several sheep and one pig suffered serious injuries, including a broken leg and trauma so severe that it caused one sheep's intestines to penetrate her chest cavity.
• Mice died, most likely as a result of dehydration, after staff members failed to notice that the animals did not have access to water.

PETA has repeatedly reached out to UTMB through letters and phone calls in an attempt to discuss these alleged violations with the university directly, but our correspondence and calls have been totally ignored. Now, PETA has filed an urgent complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture calling for an immediate investigation.

You can also be a voice for the animals at UTMB. Please take a minute of your time today to urge UTMB President David L. Callender to immediately conduct a thorough investigation of the university's laboratories and dismiss any employees whose incompetence, negligence, or outright cruelty are found to have contributed to increased pain and misery for animals.

https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3523

2,400 pigs have been buried alive in the Republic of Korea

The Republic of Korea is a member of the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) and live burial of animals is in clear breach of the OIE Guidelines on the Killing of Animals for Disease Control Purposes.

Please we need a flood of letters to South Korean authorities.

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/news/compassion_news/reported_live_burial_of_pigs_in_the_republic_of_korea.aspx

Sample letter to the Embassy of Republic of Korea in London.

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2010/s/supporter_letter_korea.pdf

Petition to sign:

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/animals_buried_alive_in_korea

Thank you !!!

4 reasons why you should go vegetarian

1. Because eating meat is murder.

Everyone who eats animal products is responsible for the abuse and deaths of beings with lives and personalities of their own—beings who did not choose to be carved up and put on the dinner table.

2. Because eating meat is torture.

Animals raised for food are separated from their mothers shortly after birth and spend their brief, miserable lives crammed together by the thousands in factory farms, sometimes unable to move or to take a single step in any direction.

Animals raised for food are so stressed and fearful, factory farmers think that the only way to prevent them from fighting is through systematic mutilation. Chickens' sensitive beaks are cut off with a hot blade, and pigs' teeth and tails are cut off—all without the use of painkillers. On the killing floor, many animals are still conscious when they are skinned and cut into pieces.

3. Because eating meat is suicide.

4. Because eating meat just isn’t fair

The suffering of humans and the suffering of other animals are interconnected. By alleviating the suffering of other animals, we also help alleviate human suffering.

Simply put, the more meat you eat, the fewer people you feed. You can feed 20 vegetarians on the amount of land needed to feed one person on a meat-based diet.

Source:

http://www.petaasiapacific.com/issues-nottoeat.asp

One Million Pigs Buried Alive in South Korea

Following an outbreak of Foot & Mouth disease in South Korea, the authorities have refused to have animals vaccinated and are instead doing a mass cull. Slaughtered humanely? No! They're burying them alive!

Foot and mouth disease affects all cloven hoofed animals such as pigs, cattle and goats, and any country that has cases of it is unable to export the animals' meat.

The South Korean government has so far refused to vaccinate pigs against the disease and is now slaughtering them in record numbers despite appeals to stop.

On January 4 in one area of Gangwon-Do, 33,900 pigs alone were destroyed, according to the OIE

Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) has said that South Korea's actions contravene international guidelines. Michele Danan from the organisation said: "Live vaccinations are the best route but if they do have to kill them we would prefer that they were at least slaughtered humanely."

The estimated cost of the cull so far is believed to have reached around £230m when a mass vaccination programme would have cost an estimated £63m.

Some animal rights campaigners have criticized the government for putting economic considerations ahead of animal welfare.

The Republic has begun inoculating cattle in some areas and the OIE reported on Thursday that sows and boars are starting to be vaccinated but only in a few locations.

It is believed the live burial of pigs began at Christmas and the figure is likely to climb far above the one million mark.

Joyce D’Silva, Director of Public Affairs for CIWF said: "Compassion in World Farming is appalled that the Republic of Korea is allegedly throwing pigs into pits and burying them alive.

"This is totally contrary to international guidelines on humane culling, which the Korean government endorsed five years ago.

"We urge the Korean government to end this horrendous practice at once and to ensure that, if animals are culled, this is done humanely."

Please sign this petition and send it to all your friends. This type of deliberate cruelty is totally unnecessary and totally unacceptable in any country in 2011.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/one-million-pigs-buried-alive-in-south-korea/