Maybe you have a companion animal – a dog, a cat, a gecko, a bird – that you love as much as I love my little Yorkipoo, Meeks. I especially like when he curls up on my lap at the office while I’m seeing patients. Even if you don’t have a dog, I think you will pity the companion animals that are seized from dog pounds by animal brokers for use in medical research.
The practice is known as pound seizure, where dogs and other animals are obtained from pounds and shelters by Class B animal dealers and used in research. Recently, researchers studying heart failure affiliated with Wayne State University purchased a dalmation named Queenie from a dealer in Detroit. While there are some similarities between human and dog physiology, of course a dog’s ability to communicate pain and fear are limited.
Queenie underwent surgeries for implantation of a medical device in her chest, and then was forced to run on a treadmill. She’s lucky to have survived that much: records from the lab show that 25% of the animals die during the surgeries or the experiments. Despite their commitment to “ensuring that all research and treatment protocols using live animals are designed and carried out in a humane manner,” she was made to run on a treadmill after major chest surgery with nothing more than the human equivalent of an aspirin for pain control. Documents reveal that Queenie defecated or had diarrhea on the treadmill on 15 seperate occassions, consistent with an extreme fear or pain response leading to an inability to control the bowels. She was finally euthanized when the medical device implanted in her chest retreated into her body.
A complaint filed with the USDA earlier this year aims to help prevent ongoing pain and suffering of research animals like Queenie. Right now, the Physician Committee for Responsible Medicine is asking people to e-mail Wayne State’s president, Allan Gilmour, asking to put an end to animal research at his university. Please, go to www.pcrm.org/waynestate and add your name to the growing list of people who fundamentally oppose animal research.
We’ve reached a point in Western medicine where the use of animals can’t teach us about human physiology. It’s time to find out how we can most effectively guide people toward wellness, instead of spending precious health care dollars on unnecessary animal research.