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Worldwide Primates, a Miami-based company that imports monkeys for lab experiments, is seeking a restraining order against members of an anti-vivisection group called Smash on the grounds that their tactics go beyond what is protected by free speech. According to the Miami Herald, the company claims that Smash members ‘intimidate, stalk and terrorize” the company and says that “Employees’ identities, photos, home addresses and even divorce records have been plastered online. Bullhorn-wielding protesters frequently rally outside private homes owned by employees, hiding in bushes, trespassing on properties and even pelting cars with rocks.” Smash’s leader, Gary Serignese, defends the groups actions on behalf of the monkeys, stating that “every step of the way is a brutal, traumatizing thing for these really sensitive animals.”

At the Miami Beach home of an officer of Worldwide Primates

Some people might think targeting vivisectors at their homes crosses the line, but I think it’s justified if it discourages some researchers from torturing animals in their experiments. At the very least, the home demos hold them accountable. In my opinion, the extreme emotional and physical pain endured by the animals is far greater than the inconvenience to the abusers of having protesters on the sidewalk. To see how you can help end animal testing, please visit Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN).

According to a report released by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), activists campaigning against animal experimentation are targeting the individuals involved in the research because prote sting against the universities has proven to be ineffective. In response to the shifting tactics, FASEB is advising researchers to limit the amount of personal information they share online and advising universities to assemble a “crisis management team” comprised to respond to incidents. Eric Bernthal from HSUS responded to the report asking why the reason for attacks isn’t being explored and adds, “If you’re going to give advice to researchers about how to solve this problem, the most constructive way is to use fewer animals in research, not assemble crisis communication teams.”

Vivisection protest in Spain

In university labs across the country, researchers receive government grants to imprison and cut open live monkeys in order to conduct what are often redundant, unnecessary, painful and deadly behavior studies. It’s a very big business. Locking up animals in cages and experimenting on their bodies are cruel and unjustifiable practices. To see how you can help end animal testing, please visit Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN).

The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) has released undercover footage of baby dogs and cats and their mothers being physically and emotionally abused in a barren U.K. lab owned by the pharmaceutical company Merck. The video shows young puppies being separated from their mothers, who are killed because their job of delivering babies to the lab was complete. It also shows the puppies being injected, killed and dissected in front of their brothers and sisters. In a Care2 article, the BUAV said that “While many of these animals could have been rescued, simply killing them and tossing their bodies in the trash is easier than making any effort to find them homes.”

https://youtu.be/5mE4uCacUmc

Like agribusiness owners, researchers who test on animals go to great lengths to hide their experiments from public view, knowing that people would be outraged to see how the imprisoned animals suffer and die. As PETA explains, “They languish in pain, ache with loneliness, and long to roam free and use their minds. Instead, all they can do is sit and wait in fear of the next terrifying and painful procedure that will be performed on them.” Modern day science has provided scientists with alternatives to animal research, but because of government regulations, laziness and money, the brutal experiments continue. To learn more about animal testing and find out how you can help, please PETA’s Animals Used For Experimentation website.

According to CNN, The Nonhuman Animal Rights Project (NhRP) lost its case in the state of New York to “grant captive chimpanzees the same rights as a ‘legal person.'” A victory would have freed four chimpanzees in the state and sent them to sanctuaries. NhRP, which intends to appeal the case, said it “plans to file more lawsuits across the country on behalf of captive animals ‘who are scientifically proven to be self-aware and autonomous,’ such as elephants, dolphins and whales.”

Wild animals lead complex and fulfilling lives in their natural habitat and should never be held captive by humans. Because chimps are so intelligent and relatable, advocacy groups have worked tirelessly to rescue them from laboratories, where they can be imprisoned and experimented on for life. To learn about how you can help bring an end to animal research, please visit Stop Animal Exploitation Now.