In a message dated 7/3/2000 12:03:39 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
-- It just doesn't seem to make sense that someone would
-- bother to steal dogs when shelters will give them to medical research
-- rather than euthanize them. But, maybe so....
Thankfully most states (including my home state of VT) have outlawed the
practice of allowing labratories to obtain animals from shelters.
I am not against medical research (which brings the same advances in
veterinary technology for our pets as it does for ourselves) although I
support and commend legislation to strictly regulate the conditions under
which these animals are kept and to minimize the pain they suffer as a result
of their enormous service both to mankind and to the more fortunate of their
own species.
*However* the unfortunate homeless pets who end up in shelters have been
through enough, and should not be subjected to further abuse. An animal
shelter is intended as a last refuge for these abandoned and frightened
unfortunate creatures...and they should be treated with kindness, adopted
out, or humanely destroyed.
I believe research dogs are broken into two classes..class A animals and
class B animals.
The class A dogs must be bred in sterile environments by licensed breeders
and conform to specified physical conditions, ie free from genetic defects
and uniform in size, appearance, health etc. Certain experiments require
this type of animal to prevent random genetic traits from influencing the
results.
Class B dogs are the type that used to be gathered by "bunchers" from humane
shelters before this practice was outlawed. Now they most likely obtain most
of their stock from the same auctions in MO and Kansas and OK that supply and
are bred by the puppymills.
Just a side note: if pet shops are an unfortunate reality, I would far
rather see them supplied by the breeding facilities that raise these "class
A" research dogs. At least then this alarming growing population of
unhealthy misbred animals of questionable heritage might be replaced with
healthy, genetically fit dogs that conform to the standard for their breed.
I don't like the idea of large-scale commercial pet dog breeding anymore than
the next person, but I do not believe that the mall puppy shops of today are
likely to vanish anytime in the future... so I would offer this up as a
better scenerio than the current boomtown of midwest puppymills.
Marci Sudlow
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http://www.sover.net/~lsudlow/
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