The Real Planet of the Apes

Hi everyone,

I'm sure most of you know about one of the newest movies in theaters right now: Planet of the Apes. While production crew did not use real apes in the making (fortunately), the movie shows how cruel and sad it is for primates that are locked up in small cages for experiments. Theses animals who share 99% of our DNA are intelligent and share similar needs and emotions for us. They need socialization, fresh air, and natural lives just as much as we need love from others and our own will to do what we want. These primates suffer post-traumatic stress disorder and depression from living such miserable lives, just like we would in their position. Luckily for us, there is no higher and more powerful being that is sadistic enough to stuff us in cages 24/7, cut us up or probe us for their research and then toss us back into the cage when we are not being used. So who are we to take what (or who) we want for our own purposes while neglecting the basic needs of our primate cousins?

Sometimes experiments can be conducted humanely- however, as many animal welfare organisations have found, animals in labs are more often than not treated as lab objects- something you can cut up or inject chemicals into, something you can toss back into a cage until your next experiment. Their lives look a little something like this:


Furthermore, we are the last industrialized nation that continues to perform invasive operations on great apes, even when we know primates do not develop HIV or other diseases like Hepatitis C like humans do.

Whether it be chimpanzees, apes, or any other kinds of animals being used in experimental lab testing, more and more evidence is being found that the physiological effects of chemicals and substances do not manifest in the same  for us humans as it is for other species- in other words, animal testing is unnecessary, ineffective, and inaccurate (and perhaps even an obsolete method of testing) for "health and medicine" purposes.

There is a Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act that needs your support: please visit here and here to find out more.

Animal Testing Exposed: PLRS (North Carolina)

PETA recently released the findings of a 9-month undercover investigation at an animal testing lab facility in North Carolina, Professional Laboratory and Research Services, Inc. (PLRS)

PLRS does chemical testing on animals for huge pharmaceutical companies who use chemicals and insecticides to make flea and tick products, among other pet products.

Does anyone else see the irony here?

These companies make products that are supposed to help pets, yet by making those products they harm the very same kinds of companion animals that they are catering to in the market. This investigation shows severe abuses committed against the very pets that people commonly have- cats, dogs, and rabbits.

The saddest part is that only half of the cruel involved is related to actual testing, when chemicals are force-fed to the animals or placed on animals' skin and wounds.

The other part is intentional violence towards the animals by the workers and staff, who do such terrible things to the animal subjects one would wonder how in the world such humans can exist (if they can still be called humans..)

In the video below, you will see:

• a worker viciously slamming a metal gate against a cat whose body was halfway out of the cage 

• workers screaming at the animals, insulting them and cursing profanities at them

• a female workers repeatedly holding a cat against a chain-link fence- once the cat tries to hold on to the fence, she tears the cat off while saying that she wants the cat's claws to rip off

• a dog is given expired anesthesia, which gives no pain relief, before having its tooth pulled out by a pair of pliers as it cries in pain

• dogs locked up in filthy cages in an extremely loud environment of ~107 decibels, inducing high levels of stress and "stereotypic behavior" to stress like continuously pacing around in circles. According to a standard decibel sound chart, 107 decibels is equivalent to the loudness of a power motor. 107 decibels is also louder than a subway train and above the level at which continuous exposure may result in hearing loss. 

• dogs forced to sit in their own waste (urine and feces), which leads to developing open sores that are bloody and raw

• the workers spraying the cages down with water mixed with soap, bleach, chemicals while the animals are still in the cages, putting the dogs in even more pain as their open sores are exposed to the chemicals  

• rabbits also forced to sit in their own waste, developing "hind sores" on their sensitive legs without receiving any medical attention 

• When asked about veterinary care for the animals' sores, a supervisor says it's a waste of time because "If you've got 10 dogs that have the same problem, it's not a problem. It's a living condition here. We need to write up things that are abnormal. That is normal life here."

• a supervisor breaks a needle in a cat's back but leaves it there, saying she'll "get it a later" 

• a rabbit, whose back has been shaved, is forced to lie on its back against a container of thousands of mosquitoes to have its blood sucked for 15 minutes daily. This is done in order to have the mosquitoes have blood to reproduce and lay eggs (for unknown purpose).

• a dog has his ear repeatedly cut open over many weeks but without receiving adequate veterinary care- instead, it is left bleeding

• cats have their eyes burned and blinded by experimental chemicals; one cat crouches helplessly with her eyes closed in the corner of her cage as she suffers from the pain

Of course, words can not fully describe the experiences of the animals. The video compiled of footage clips at PLRS will actually let you see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears the cries of the animals and the kind of pain they are forced to endure.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
1. signing and sharing this petition to urge pharmaceutical companies to cease business with this lab PLRS: https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=displ...ay&page=UserAction&id=3187
2. share this investigation on facebook by clicking here 
3. spreading awareness on animal testing and to encourage others to shop cruelty-free
4. follow this blog to keep updated on modern animal rights news and issues

source: (link to the main article)http://ht.ly/2Bc9l

9/21/2010
Update on the rescue of some dogs from PLRS: http://cfcorner.blogspot.com/2010/09/animals-at-plrs-testing-lab-rescued.html

The Faces Behind Animal Experimentaion: Monkeys

Did you know that monkeys are 99% similar to humans by DNA? (If you don't believe me, look it up.) Yet many of them are abused and tortured in cruel, invasive experiments that leave them in states where they are better off dead. This may sound harsh, but what people have done to animals in animal testing falls can seriously constitute as "hell on earth." We humans somehow think we have the power to use any other creature on this earth for our use simply because they are non-human. Monkeys, who are almost just like us except for outer appearance and mechanism for spoken language, are highly intellectual animals capable of feeling emotions, pain, as well as communicating other forms of language and building relationships with others.

Let me introduce to you the monkey subjects of animal testing:

Posted by PETA2, these photos are shot inside Primate Products and can be found at the company website here: http://directaction4.info/USA_primates_Aug10/index.html

Believe it or not, Primate Products is a company that makes money off of inhumane suffering by selling primate torture devices and facilities the importing of primates for testing.

These monkeys have had their "scalps and skulls butchered and crudely stitched up" and some suffer from "other injuries that appear to be from fighting or self-mutilation. Monkeys often bite at their own limbs and tear out clumps of their own hair because of the trauma of being confined, deprived, and tormented while being used as living test tubes." (PETA2)

The raw cruelty involved in animal experimentation is, in my opinion, the main reason that you and I should opt to purchase only cruelty-free products that involve no animal testing in their products or products' sub-components/ingredients.

While all animal experimentation can not be halted solely by change in consumer choices to cruelty-free, positive change will be able to gain momentum for the lives of innocent animals.

Another thing you can do now is to sign this petition against planned NASA-funded experiments that will torment chimpanzees (all that is required is name and email-- also, PETA will not send you any emails if you uncheck the box): https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3260&c=923fs