|
|  |
With Sarah Lounges
ANIMAL TESTING IS WRONG…GET INVOLVED! GIVE THEM A VOICE! Intolerable Cruelty... No, I am not talking about the new George Clooney movie, I am referring to animal testing. I come to you this month with a serious subject. For the most part, I think that people in general are fairly unaware of the amount of animal testing that is going on right now in our world. We tend to think that is is a thing of the past. I know that I did. That is until I began doing research on it for an English class paper at school. To my horror, I learned (thanks to the Internet) that animal testing is still a very real travesty that still goes on in labs all over the place. Maybe you do not think that this is a “big deal,” or that it is even “necessary.” I hope to change your mind here and simply ask you to consider some of the things I discovered, and just think about it... Many of us have had childhood pets, and many of us have pets as we grow old. This is because animals are loyal and faithful companions that are enjoyable to romp and play with, always by our sides and offering unconditional love. Now picture somebody taking your precious tabby and crushing its head with a nail filled board or imagine your adorable Labrador debarked by having its vocal chords brutally ripped out. Does it make you sick? Does it make you angry? It should! People administer terrible and cruel tests on animals, many of which could be a family pet, all in the name of “science.” The tobacco industry has been involved in grotesque animal testing for years. Dogs are forced to inhale cigarette smoke on machine ventilators. In one experiment there were holes cut into beagle’s throats and they were made to breathe concentrated smoke for an entire year. Masks are strapped onto the faces of rats and mice as smoke is pumped right into their little noses. And the worst part is that some of these experiments are Federally funded! What is even more ridiculous is that none of these tests are necessary or even useful. The fact is that animal’s bodies do not function the same way a human’s does. Animals do not develop lung cancer like us, so by testing the effects of smoking on animals, it mislead the public for years by allowing us to believe that smoking was not a cancer causing agent, which we are now aware that it is. Yeah, those tests were really useful, huh? Even companies that we put our trust in to take care of our pets are grossly mistreating them. Recently, an undercover investigator for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) reported on a dog food corporation doing terrible injustices to these poor creatures in their laboratories. Dogs being dumped on cold concrete flooring after having huge chunks of muscle cut out of their thighs. Dogs had tubes jammed down their throats and were forced to ingest vegetable oil. Dogs were burdened with such severe tartar buildup on their teeth that it was painful for them to eat. Other dogs were limping from Lyme disease. One poor pup, was said to be found dead in his cage bleeding from the mouth. These animals live in windowless, dungeon-like cells that can cause then to go stir-crazy, they are living in a private hell. A different company, according to a PETA investigator, was caught with dogs whose legs were caught between the bars of slatted floors (which are prohibited by the U.S federal Animal Welfare Act). Many of whom also suffered with swollen and inflamed paw pads from walking on the slatted steel. There was even one dog who had no name, only a number, whose hind legs were cut to the bone because of the flooring. The miserable thing was left in her cage seven days to suffer without any painkillers before she was finally killed. Another one of their canine victims developed a rash on her inner thigh and a terrible purple mass on her abdomen. She was diagnosed as having a mammary tumor and folliculitis and cried in pain when she was handled. The pup was not treated, but instead left to suffer as her condition worsened. She endured 42 days of this torture before she was finally put to death. Dogs are not the only ones –– tests are done on cats and kittens, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and other tiny, helpless and innocent animals. Yet, even with all of the proof and all of the witnesses to these horrible injustices, there is little being done about it, because there is no actual law on the books to stop it. These sick people can just continue what they are doing and everyone just turns the other way. Companies and manufacturers are not the only ones involved. Many schools are killing animals in classrooms across the country. Without naming any names, here are some of the things going on in those classrooms. Dogs are cut open, while still alive, as they have their hearts fibrillated and de-fibrillated. To make things worse, the students who are in charge of administering the anesthesia do not know what they are doing. In one Mammalian Physiology class, there are rabbits being bled to death, frogs being decapitated and turtles having their shells cut off while they are still living. Likewise, in another lab, rats had their skulls drilled and swabbed and their skin peeled back and stapled all while fully conscious. Even charities, which are supposed to be about ending suffering, have had a hand in this unbearable torture of animals. There are alleged cases of one injecting particles of glass into dogs’ hearts to induce heart failure. Other reports allege dogs are repeatedly given mini-heart attacks; dogs’ hearts are steadily shocked in order to cause blood clots; and brain studies have been done on newborn pigs after metal shafts have been inserted into their skulls. Is this what our donations are funding, even though all the major advances in combatting most diseases has come from human data? There is no need for these travesties to continue on! There have been many highly effective non-animal tests developed. In the past, a chemical may have been burned into a rabbit’s eye to see how it affected the cornea, where as now, you can test it out on donated human corneas. Rather than testing corrosive materials on animal skin, they now can grow skin cultures for this testing. These, and many more tests are cheaper, faster and more accurate. Yet despite these facts, many companies are still mutilating animals. In the end though, if we want this horrible suffering of innocence to stop, we have to stop it ourselves. Take a stand for those who cannot take a stand for themselves, speak up for those who cannot speak. We need to boycott companies that continue this unnecessary cruelty. After all of the love and companionship that our pets have given us, do we not owe them this much? For more information on animal rights, animal testing and alternatives to animal testing, check out these sites. They are great ones to start with and have many links to other informative sites: Email Sarah Lounges @ sarah@midwestbeat.com | ||
Web Design By: All Rights Reserved © Hungry Mind Design2003 | ||
