DOCSLIB.ORG

Creating a Better World for Rabbits

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

WINTER 2007 A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E A M E R I C A N A N T I -V I V I S E C T I O N SOCIETY Spring Ahead: Creating a Better World for Rabbits VOLUME CXV, NUMBER 1 ISSN 0274-7774 Contents FEATURES Managing Editor 2 A DAmAgeD RAbbit is still A RAbbit: 15 is the Domestic RAbbit the Right Crystal Schaeffer AnD otheR ReAsons why AnimAls compAnion foR you? Copy Editor shoulDn’t be pAtenteD By Caroline Gilbert, Founder/Director, Julie Cooper-Fratrik Rabbit Sanctuary, Inc. By Nina Mak, MS, AAVS Research Analyst Rabbits can be wonderful members of the family. AAVS launched the second phase of its Ban Are they the right companions for you? Animal Patents campaign in March. Our aim now is to stop a patent on rabbits who are subjected to STAFF painful eye experiments in order to develop eye 16 whAt RAbbits Can teAch us About Tracie Letterman, Esq., drop solutions. characteR-builDing Executive Director By Laura Ducceschi, MA, Jeanne Borden, Director of Animalearn Administration Assistant 6 blinDeD foR beAuty: Humane education can be used to help instill RAbbits useD in ProDuct testing Chris Derer, Membership Coordinator reverence and respect for animal life. Laura Ducceschi, Education Director By Vicki Katrinak, AAVS Policy Analyst Heather Gaghan, Director of Rabbits are the most recognized symbol associated Development & Member Services with compassionate shopping. This recognition is 17 DiD you Know? RAbbit Facts Nicole Green, Assistant Director of somewhat dubious, however, since rabbits are so Rabbits are fascinating animals. Learn more Education widely used in product testing research. about them! Vicki Katrinak, Policy Analyst Nina Mak, Research Analyst 10 unFURgivAble: RAbbits 18 the plight of the meAt RAbbit Nicole Perry, Outreach Coordinator Dying foR Fashion By Paulette Lincoln-Baker, Crystal Schaeffer, Outreach Director Volunteers Director, RabbitWise® By Vicki Katrinak, AAVS Policy Analyst Julie Sinnamon, Office Manager Although not a popular meat choice in the U.S., While some may feel that the fur industry is dying, Lauren Zaprala, IT Manager & rabbits are exploited for their flesh and suffer in the trade in rabbit fur is thriving. Graphic Designer many of the same ways that other animals raised for food do. GRAPHIC DESIGN/ILLUSTRATION: RAbbit Research: © Copyright 2007 eureka, 12 www.abouteureka.com the cost of expeRimentAtion By Crystal Schaeffer, M.A. Ed. Down the RAbbit hole: The AV Magazine (USPS 002-660) is 22 AAVS Outreach Director living with ouR wilD neighboRs published quarterly under the auspices of Rabbits are exploited in a number of ways by many the American Anti-Vivisection Society, industries, including the biomedical industry. By Kristine Rawls, AAVS Intern Sue Leary, President. Annual membership Learning more about your wild rabbit neighbors dues: $25 .00. Third-class postage paid at will help you have a peaceful coexistence. Lancaster, Pa. Office of Publication: 801 Old York Rd., #204 COLUMNS Jenkintown, PA 19046-1685 Telephone: (215) 887-0816 Fax: (215) 887-2088 20 meDiaWatch 26 tRIBUTES E-mail: [email protected] AAVS staff speak out on behalf of animals through Special friends honored and remembered. Website: www.aavs.org the media, and AAVS launches its End Animal Cloning campaign. ARDf update Articles published in the AV Magazine may 28 be reproduced with written permission and The field of alternatives development has made a with credit given to AAVS. Also, we appreciate newsnet difference for rabbits in laboratories. receiving pertinent newspaper and magazine New24 Animal Ethics Centre Launched in UK; clippings, including their sources and dates of Medical Journal States Animal Tests Unreliable; publication. New Alternative Could Help Reduce Animal Tests; Federal Agency on Probation for its Animal When sending funds or making bequests, Care; First Female Dogs Cloned in Korea; EU please use our legal title: Implements New Chemical Testing Program. The American Anti-Vivisection Society 801 Old York Rd., #204 messAge to ouR membeRs Jenkintown, PA 19046-1685 26 Last year was a great year for AAVS and its Organized and established in 1883. programs, especially the Tina Nelson Sanctuary Fund. The American Anti-Vivisection Society does not verify all of the claims made by the authors and the individual views expressed in the AV Magazine do not necessarily reflect the policy of the organization. Printed on recycled paper. Who Are We? ounded in 1883, the American Anti- Vivisection Society (AAVS) is the oldest Rabbits are one of my favorite animals— FIRST WORD non-profitF animal advocacy and educational they are soft, fuzzy, and adorably cute. A organization in the United States dedicated lot of people must feel the same way about to ending experimentation on animals in research, testing, and education. AAVS also rabbits because there are thousands of opposes and works to end other forms of bunnies purchased every year around the cruelty to animals. We work with students, grassroots groups, individuals, teachers, the Easter holiday. Unfortunately, most of these media, other national organizations, govern- ‘Easter bunnies’ end up in shelters or are ment officials, members of the scientific abandoned in parks. Before purchasing a community, and advocates in other coun- tries to legally and effectively end the use rabbit this Easter, please consider whether of animals in science through education, a rabbit is the best choice for you and your advocacy, and the development of alternative family. Although it is tempting to purchase methods to animal use. these adorable, little creatures—especially AAVS has two main divisions, each involved for children—rabbits are not ideal pets for in specific activities. Animalearn is the small children because they do not like to be education program of AAVS, which focuses on ending vivisection and dissection in the held and can bite. If your child is asking for a rabbit this Easter, perhaps you can suggest classroom. From elementary through college a chocolate bunny. If your children are like mine, they will happily accept this sweet levels, Animalearn helps countless individu- als make their classrooms more humane. treat! Animalearn operates the most aggressive If you are really interested in having a rabbit as a pet, please do not perpetuate the dissection alternatives lending library in the country, The Science Bank; it provides alterna- rabbit pet trade. Instead, there are thousands of rabbits waiting to be rescued from local tives to using animals, from basic dissection, animal shelters or rescue groups. Visit www.rabbitrescue.com for more information through psychology experiments. Animalearn about whether you are the right person to live with a rabbit and where you can rescue also participates in national teacher confer- ences and hosts workshops to help teachers these animals. learn ways of educating without harming As a consumer, there are lots of choices that you can make to prevent the cruel and other living creatures. Animalearn’s National Humane Educators Network links interested inhumane treatment of rabbits. One obvious way is to forego rabbit, or lapin, for dinner. parties with speakers across the country, Although this dish is increasing in popularity, many people are surprised to learn that bringing the message of humane education to thousands. USDA categorizes rabbits as “poultry” and, as a result of this categorization, these animals receive no protections under the Humane Slaughter Act. The Outreach division of AAVS educates the general public about animal issues through Another easy action for animal advocates to take in eliminating cruel treatment one of the top-rated literature collections in towards rabbits is refusing to buy clothing that contains rabbit fur. Many sweaters, coats, the animal advocacy movement and the infor- gloves and other clothing contain rabbit fur. Surprisingly, ethically minded consumers mative AAVS website. Our quarterly publica- tion, AV Magazine, and bi-monthly newsletter, may purchase fur trimmed items unintentionally because not all clothing with fur is Activate For Animals, provide comprehensive required to contain a label identifying whether the fur is real or faux. (Please see up-to-date information on the scientific and page 10.) ethical dimensions of animal experiments and alternatives. Both publications encourage AAVS Next, purchasing personal and household products that are not tested on animals, members and supporters to become actively involved in our campaigns. Outreach staff also such as cosmetics, shampoos, and laundry detergents, is an important step towards travel to speaking engagements and confer- eliminating unnecessary product testing on animals. Due to the docile nature of ences and place advertisements in national rabbits and their sensitive eyes, product testing is frequently conducted on these gentle publications to spread the AAVS message across the country. creatures. To help consumers purchase products that are truly cruelty-free and to encourage companies to use nonanimal alternatives, AAVS is assuming responsibility The Alternatives Research & Development for the management and development of the Coalition for Consumer Information on Foundation (ARDF), an affiliate of AAVS, awards grants to scientists and educators Cosmetics. (Request your free Compassionate Shopping Guide today!) working to develop non-animal methods of investigation. ARDF’s unique program As for rabbits used in research, AAVS is challenging the patenting of a rabbit. The provides the necessary resources for the devel- challenged patent is for a rabbit whose eyes have been purposefully damaged to mimic a opment of alternatives to the use of animals, condition in humans known as dry eye. If this patent is granted, the patent owner can and it advocates the use of alternatives through the internet and by participating license the rabbit model to drug researchers to test the effectiveness of medications for in conferences and seminars. Through these treating dry eye. AAVS is contesting the legality of this patent by arguing that animals endeavors, ARDF works to promote scientific are not patentable subject matter and the techniques claimed in this patent are not solutions for today with humane visions for the future.
Recommended publications
  • Lay Persons and Community Values in Reviewing Animal Experimentation Jeff Leslie Jeff.Leslie@Chicagounbound.Edu

    Lay Persons and Community Values in Reviewing Animal Experimentation Jeff Leslie [email protected]

    University of Chicago Legal Forum Volume 2006 | Issue 1 Article 5 Lay Persons and Community Values in Reviewing Animal Experimentation Jeff Leslie [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf Recommended Citation Leslie, Jeff () "Lay Persons and Community Values in Reviewing Animal Experimentation," University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 2006: Iss. 1, Article 5. Available at: http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol2006/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Chicago Unbound. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Chicago Legal Forum by an authorized administrator of Chicago Unbound. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Lay Persons and Community Values in Reviewing Animal Experimentation Jeff Lesliet Is it morally acceptable to use animals in scientific experi- ments that will not benefit those animals, but instead solely benefit people? Most people would say yes; but at the same time most would view the use of animals as a regrettable necessity, to be pursued only when the benefits to people outweigh the harm to the animals, and only after everything possible is done to minimize that harm. Identifying benefits and harms may require specialized scientific and technological understanding, to be sure, but evaluating the tradeoff between them requires not technical expertise, but rather the capacity to make difficult moral judg- ments. We do not usually think of moral judgments as the unique terrain of any particular set of professionals or experts. Anyone capable of ethical reasoning has an equal claim to exper- tise, and a pluralistic society can be expected to exhibit a wide range of moral beliefs.
  • Animal Experimentation in India

    Animal Experimentation in India

    Animal Defenders International ● National Anti-Vivisection Society Animal Experimentation in India Unfettered science: How lack of accountability and control has led to animal abuse and poor science “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Vivisection is the blackest of all the black crimes that man is at present committing against God and His fair creation. It ill becomes us to invoke in our daily prayers the blessings of God, the Compassionate, if we in turn will not practise elementary compassion towards our fellow creatures.” And, “I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with the innocent blood I count as of no consequence.” Mahatma Gandhi Thanks With thanks to Maneka Gandhi and the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) of India for their report on the use of animals in laboratories, which has been used for this critique of the state of scientific and medical research in India. Animal Defenders International and the National Anti-Vivisection Society UK fully support and encourage the efforts of the members of India’s CPCSEA to enforce standards and controls over the use of animals in laboratories in India, and their recommendation that facilities and practices in India’s research laboratories be brought up to international standards of good laboratory practice, good animal welfare, and good science. Contributors Jan Creamer Tim Phillips Chris Brock Robert Martin ©2003 Animal Defenders International & National Anti-Vivisection Society ISBN: Animal Defenders International 261 Goldhawk Road, London W12 9PE, UK tel.
  • Laboratory Animals and the Art of Empathy D Thomas

    Laboratory Animals and the Art of Empathy D Thomas

    197 RESEARCH ETHICS J Med Ethics: first published as 10.1136/jme.2003.006387 on 30 March 2005. Downloaded from Laboratory animals and the art of empathy D Thomas ............................................................................................................................... J Med Ethics 2005;31:197–204. doi: 10.1136/jme.2003.006387 Consistency is the hallmark of a coherent ethical take a big leap of imagination to empathise with the victims of animal experiments as well. In philosophy. When considering the morality of particular short: if we would not want done to ourselves behaviour, one should look to identify comparable what we do to laboratory animals, we should not situations and test one’s approach to the former against do it to them. one’s approach to the latter. The obvious comparator for Animals suffer animal experiments is non-consensual experiments on Crucially for the debate about the morality of people. In both cases, suffering and perhaps death is animal experiments, non-human animals suffer knowingly caused to the victim, the intended beneficiary is just as human ones do. Descartes may have described animals as ‘‘these mechanical robots someone else, and the victim does not consent. Animals [who] could give such a realistic illusion of suffer just as people do. As we condemn non-consensual agony’’ (my emphasis) but no serious scientist experiments on people, we should, if we are to be today doubts that the manifestation of agony is real, not illusory. Indeed, the whole pro-vivisec- consistent, condemn non-consensual experiments on tion case is based on the premise that animals animals. The alleged differences between the two practices are sufficiently similar to us physiologically, and often put forward do not stand up to scrutiny.
  • Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Brochure

    Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Brochure

    Precautions for Hunters and Falconers: Movement of Live Rabbits: • If you observe sick or dead rabbits in an area, do not • Importing domestic rabbits into Arkansas, except when hunt, run dogs, or fly falconry birds in that area. moving directly to a USDA-licensed slaughter facility, Contact the state conservation agency for that state requires a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection. Rabbit immediately. In Arkansas, please send reports to This includes the movement of all pet, show, and [email protected]. production rabbits not intended for immediate slaughter. • Avoid traveling to hunt in areas where RHDV-2 • Many states are implementing movement restrictions outbreaks have been recently documented. For a map for rabbits. If you plan to travel with live rabbits, contact Hemorrhagic of known RHDV-2 affected areas, please visit the state agriculture authority in the state of destination www.agfc.com/riskid. and all states through which you plan to travel to ensure • Hunters who own domestic rabbits should wash or compliance with pertinent state regulations. change clothing, including footwear, after handling wild • Avoid transporting wild rabbits for release into Disease rabbits before coming into contact with domestic animals. training pens or for field trials, especially if sick or • Wear rubber or disposable latex gloves while handling dead rabbits have been observed in the area. and cleaning game. Do not eat, drink, or smoke while • If you have transported a wild rabbit to a permitted handling animals. wildlife rehabilitator, disinfect or dispose of any cages, • Bag any remains and dispose of them in trash destined boxes, or other materials that may have come into for a landfill, if local ordinances prohibit the disposal contact with the animal.
  • Jm Coetzee and Animal Rights

    Jm Coetzee and Animal Rights

    J.M. COETZEE AND ANIMAL RIGHTS: ELIZABETH COSTELLO’S CHALLENGE TO PHILOSOPHY Richard Alan Northover SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA PRETORIA, 0002, SOUTH AFRICA Supervisor: Professor David Medalie OCTOBER 2009 © University of Pretoria Abstract The thesis relates Coetzee’s focus on animals to his more familiar themes of the possibility of fiction as a vehicle for serious ethical issues, the interrogation of power and authority, a concern for the voiceless and the marginalised, a keen sense of justice and the question of secular salvation. The concepts developed in substantial analyses of The Lives of Animals and Disgrace are thereafter applied to several other works of Coetzee. The thesis attempts to position J.M. Coetzee within the animal rights debate and to assess his use of his problematic persona, Elizabeth Costello, who controversially uses reason to attack the rationalism of the Western philosophical tradition and who espouses the sympathetic imagination as a means of developing respect for animals. Costello’s challenge to the philosophers is problematised by being traced back to Plato’s original formulation of the opposition between philosophers and poets. It is argued that Costello represents a fallible Socratic figure who critiques not reason per se but an unqualified rationalism. This characterisation of Costello explains her preoccupation with raising the ethical awareness of her audience, as midwife to the birth of ideas, and perceptions of her as a wise fool, a characterisation that is confirmed by the use of Bakhtin’s notion of the Socratic dialogue as one of the precursors of the modern novel.
  • Science, Sentience, and Animal Welfare

    Science, Sentience, and Animal Welfare

    WellBeing International WBI Studies Repository 1-2013 Science, Sentience, and Animal Welfare Robert C. Jones California State University, Chico, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/ethawel Part of the Animal Studies Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Nature and Society Relations Commons Recommended Citation Jones, R. C. (2013). Science, sentience, and animal welfare. Biology and Philosophy, 1-30. This material is brought to you for free and open access by WellBeing International. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the WBI Studies Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Science, Sentience, and Animal Welfare Robert C. Jones California State University, Chico KEYWORDS animal, welfare, ethics, pain, sentience, cognition, agriculture, speciesism, biomedical research ABSTRACT I sketch briefly some of the more influential theories concerned with the moral status of nonhuman animals, highlighting their biological/physiological aspects. I then survey the most prominent empirical research on the physiological and cognitive capacities of nonhuman animals, focusing primarily on sentience, but looking also at a few other morally relevant capacities such as self-awareness, memory, and mindreading. Lastly, I discuss two examples of current animal welfare policy, namely, animals used in industrialized food production and in scientific research. I argue that even the most progressive current welfare policies lag behind, are ignorant of, or arbitrarily disregard the science on sentience and cognition. Introduction The contemporary connection between research on animal1 cognition and the moral status of animals goes back almost 40 years to the publication of two influential books: Donald Griffin’s The Question of Animal Awareness: Evolutionary Continuity of Mental Experience (1976) and Peter Singer’s groundbreaking Animal Liberation (1975).
  • Shivley Colostate 0053A 13792.Pdf (3.519Mb)

    Shivley Colostate 0053A 13792.Pdf (3.519Mb)

    DISSERTATION EXPLORING ANIMAL WELFARE THROUGH AN INVESTIGATION OF VETERINARY EDUCATION AND ON-FARM ASSESSMENTS OF DAIRY CALF WELFARE Submitted by Chelsey B. Shivley Department of Animal Sciences In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Summer 2016 Doctoral Committee: Advisor: Temple Grandin Franklyn B. Garry Terry E. Engle Bernard E. Rollin Martha L. Kesel Copyright by Chelsey B. Shivley 2016 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT EXPLORING ANIMAL WELFARE THROUGH AN INVESTIGATION OF VETERINARY EDUCATION AND ON-FARM ASSESSMENTS OF DAIRY CALF WELFARE Animal welfare encompasses many different areas, including science, ethics, economics and law. Veterinarians have an opportunity to serve as leaders in the field of animal welfare due to their interaction with all aspects of animal use. In order to do so, they must be properly trained, and veterinary curricula were evaluated for courses related to animal welfare, ethics, and behavior. Consumers are concerned with how animals are managed, and aspects of welfare of preweaned dairy calves, including colostrum quality, passive transfer status, average daily gain, and bull calf management, were evaluated. The objective of the first study presented in Chapter III was to explore the extent to which veterinary colleges and schools accredited by the AVMA Council on Education (COE) have incorporated specific courses related to animal welfare, behavior, and ethics. The design included a survey and curriculum review. The sample included all 49 AVMA COE–accredited veterinary colleges and schools (institutions). The study consisted of 2 parts. In part 1, a survey regarding animal welfare, behavior, and ethics was e-mailed to the associate dean of academic affairs at all 49 AVMA COE–accredited institutions.
  • Science and Sense: the Case for Abolishing Sow Stalls

    Science and Sense: the Case for Abolishing Sow Stalls

    January 2013 Science and Sense THE CASE FOR ABOLISHING SOW STALLS This report was written by Dr Malcolm Caulfield and PATRONS reviewed by Voiceless’s Scientific Expert Advisory Council. • Professor J.M. Coetzee It is endorsed by the World Society for the Protection Nobel Prize for Literature Winner 2003, author of of Animals, Compassion in World Farming and Animals The Lives of Animals and Elizabeth Costello Australia. • Brian Sherman AM Businessman and philanthropist Images courtesy of Animals Australia. • Dr Jane Goodall World-renowned primatologist and animal advocate © January 2013 • The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG ISBN: 978-0-9803740-6-3 (paperback) Former Justice of the High Court of Australia ISBN: 978-0-9803740-7-0 (online) SCIENTIFIC EXPERT ADVISORY COUNCIL Voiceless • Professor Marc Bekoff 2 Paddington Street Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Paddington NSW 2021 Australia University of Colorado, Boulder. Co-founder with Jane T. +612 9357 0723 F. +612 9357 0711 Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of [email protected] Animals. • Dr Malcolm Caulfield Founder and Principal Lawyer of the Animal Welfare Community Legal Centre. Formerly a pharmacologist in ABOUT VOICELESS industry and academia. Voiceless is an independent and non-profit think tank • Professor Clive Phillips dedicated to alleviating the suffering of animals in Foundation Chair of Animal Welfare, Centre for Animal Australia. Established in 2004 by father and daughter team, Welfare and Ethics, University of Queensland. Brian Sherman AM and Ondine Sherman, Voiceless: • Professor Lesley J. Rogers • Creates and fosters networks of leading lawyers, Emeritus Professor of Neuroscience and Animal politicians, businesspeople and professionals to Behaviour, University of New England.
  • The Case Against Animal Experiments

    The Case Against Animal Experiments

    The Case Against Animal Experiments Animal experiments are both unethical and unscientific. Animals in laboratories endure appalling suffering, such as being deliberately poisoned, brain-damaged and subjected to inescapable electric shocks. The pain and misery inflicted on the victims is enough, on its own, to make vivisection worthy of public condemnation. But animal “ “ experiments are also bad science, since the results they produce cannot be reliably translated to humans. They therefore offer little hope of advancing medical progress. The Case Against Animal Experiments outlines the suffering of animals used in research, before providing a clear, non-technical description of the scientific problems S E with vivisection. L I www.animalaid.org.uk C I N I M O D © How animals are used Contents Each year around four million How animals are used .......................... 1 animals are experimented on inside British laboratories. The suffering of animals in Dogs, cats, horses, monkeys, laboratories ........................................ 2 rats, rabbits and other animals Cruel experiments .................................... 2 are used, as well as hundreds A failing inspection regime ........................ 3 of thousands of genetically Secrecy and misinformation ...................... 4 modified mice. The most The GM mouse myth ................................ 4 common types of experiment The scientific case against either attempt to test how animal experiments .............................. 5 safe a substance is (toxicity Summary ...............................................
  • Chapter 10 the WELFARE of LABORATORY RABBITS

    Chapter 10 the WELFARE of LABORATORY RABBITS

    Chapter 10 THE WELFARE OF LABORATORY RABBITS Lena Lidfors¹, Therese Edström² and Lennart Lindberg³ ¹Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skara, Sweden; ²Astra Zeneca R & D, Mölndal; ³National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden 1. INTRODUCTION Rabbits were the fifth most commonly used mammalian laboratory animal after mice, rats, guinea pigs and pigs in Sweden during 2002 (CFN 2003). According to the latest statistics for the EU member states, 227 366 rabbits were used during 1999 (Commission of the European Communities 2003). Both domesticated rabbits and European wild rabbits may be used for experimental research, but there are several problems in keeping and breeding the European wild rabbit (Bell 1999). Today the most common breeds used are the New Zealand White (NZW), the Dutch and the Half Lop (Batchelor 1999). Most laboratories buy these breeds as health defined (previously called Specific Pathogen Free) from accredited breeders (Townsend 1969, Eveleigh et al. 1984). Rabbits are used for many different purposes with a large number being used for antibody production, but also for orthopaedics and biomaterials (Batchelor 1999). The rabbit is especially suitable for studies on reproduction (Batchelor 1999). Rabbits are also used for cardiac surgery, and studies of hypertension, infectious diseases, virology, embryology, toxicology, experimental teratology (Hartman 1974), arteriosclerosis (Clarkson et al. 1974) and serological genetics (Cohen and Tissot 1974). Laboratory rabbits are by tradition kept individually in small cages with restricted food availability. This has led to several physiological problems related to the fact that they move too little, as well as behavioural disorders. Over the past 10-15 years many laboratories have improved the housing for 211 E.
  • Speciesism: a Form of Bigotry Or a Justified View? Evelyn Pluhar

    Speciesism: a Form of Bigotry Or a Justified View? Evelyn Pluhar

    -------~------------ - SPECIESISM: A FORM OF BIGOTRY OR A JUSTIFIED VIEW? EVELYN PLUHAR Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Fayette Campuscampus Editor's Note: An abridgedabridged version of this paper and thethe commentary on it by Prof.Prof. Sapontzis were delivered atat the December, 1987, meetingmeeting of the Society for the StudyStudy of Ethics and Animals held inin New York City.City. g~;~~~:Fr:iiil~~JmoDs. He ..... York: Dover, 1979 We humans tend to view ourselves as the paradigms of morally considerable beings. Humans, it is often claimed, are the most morally valuable (perhaps the ~ morally PHILOSOPHY valuable) beings on this planet. It is commonly assumed that "lesser" beings 83 BRIWEENBEIWEEN THE SPECIES should be sacrificed for our benefit. When For those who continue to think that it is not pressed to provide a rational defense for the wrong to eat and vivisect non humans, but belief in human pre-eminence, philosophers indefensible to do so to even less well have argued that our autonomous, richly mentally endowed humans, the issue should complex lives warrant our special status. be very pressing indeed. They stand accused Few, however, have argued that humans who of moral inconsistency by two very are incapable of autonomy may properly be different groups. Those who have become sacrificed to further the interests of normal convinced that moral considerability is not humans. restricted to humanity are urging that we cease even the painless exploitation of It was inevitable that this prima facie non humans. According to quite another, inconsistency would be challenged. Writers very disturbing view, we should consider like Peter Singer and Tom Regan advanced exploiting mentally defective humans in the argument from marginal cases to show addition to nonhumans.
  • Internal Parasites of Rabbits

    Internal Parasites of Rabbits

    Vet Times The website for the veterinary profession https://www.vettimes.co.uk Internal parasites of rabbits Author : Glen Cousquer Categories : RVNs Date : October 1, 2008 Glen Cousquer BVM&S, BSc, CertZooMed, MRCVS discusses the common endoparasites found in rabbits and how to treat them BRITISH pet owners will be familiar with the idea that their dogs and cats need regular worming. It is not just our carnivorous friends that require worming – horses also require regular worming and horse owners will even collect their horses' faeces in order to prevent worm build-up on pasture. But what of rabbits? This feature will discuss the common internal parasites of rabbits and the steps required to control them. Before launching into a discussion about internal parasites, it is worth reminding the reader of the reasons why a regular worming programme is strongly recommended in our companion dogs, cats and horses. Dogs and cats carry the roundworm Toxocara canis and shed eggs of this parasite in their faeces. Faecal contamination of playing fields, sandpits and other play areas can result in children coming into contact with, and ingesting, Toxocara eggs. The larvae that hatch from these eggs can migrate within human tissues and are responsible for two clinical syndromes: visceral larval migrans and ocular larval migrans. The implications of larval migration within a human can be very serious, especially where the eyes are involved. It is primarily for this reason, in order to minimise the health risks to humans, that the BVA recommends that dogs and cats are wormed every three to four months.