Afgelopen zaterdag kreeg ik van Care2 de vraag een petitie te tekenen, tegen ongekende wreedheid van wetenschappers (nou ja, 'ongekend?') verbonden aan de Monash University in Melbourne. Daar smoorde men 12 windhonden, nam vervolgens het hart weg,waarna men na 4 uur de harten willekeurig terugplaatste.......
Lees en huiver, tegen het eind ziet u een link waar u een petitie tegen dit barbaarse handelen kan tekenen:
Outrage Grows After Researchers Suffocate 12 Healthy Greyhounds
During
a heart transplant experiment at an Australian university,
researchers suffocated 12 live, healthy greyhounds and
removed their hearts. Four hours later, they switched the hearts
around and reattached them. The dogs were revived – and then
euthanized.
As
you can imagine, Monash University in Melbourne is facing an angry
backlash for killing and then re-killing these dogs. The purpose of
the study, which was published in the Journal of Heart and Lung
Transplantation earlier this year, was to determine whether the human
heart donor pool could be increased with heart donations after
circulatory death.
“People
believe these things happened a long time ago or somewhere overseas,
but these experiments are happening right here right now, under our
noses,” Helen Marston, head of the anti-vivisection group Humane
Research Australia (HRA),
told the Brisbane
Times.
Even
though dogs obviously have a different anatomy than humans, the
university claims killing the greyhounds was absolutely necessary.
In
a statement on Sept. 12, Monash University said the experiment was
“approved by an independent ethics committee at The Alfred Medical
Research and Education Precinct with representatives from animal
welfare organizations.” No other research alternatives were
available and the research was critically important, the university
said.
But
is it true that there really were no other humane research
alternatives available?
“The
researchers themselves have previously conducted human studies, so it
is extremely difficult to comprehend why they would conduct studies
utilizing hearts of a completely different species, and why the
project proposal was approved by the (Alfred’s) animal ethics
committee,” HRA said in a response to
Monash University’s statement.
Instead
of greyhounds, HRA points out, the researchers could have used
poor-quality donor human hearts that were unsuitable to transplant
because of their marginal function.
The
university’s hospital also apparently has a Transmedics
Organ Care System,
a machine designed to, according to its manufacturer’s website,
“maintain organs in a warm, functioning state outside of the body
to optimize their health and allow continuous clinical evaluation”
– which sure sounds like it would eliminate any need for live
animals.
From
the Cruel Track to the Cruel Laboratory
What’s
especially heartbreaking is that many of these greyhounds were saved
from the cruelty of racing — only to be unnecessarily killed in the
name of medical research.
There
was good news earlier this year when the government of New South
Wales banned
greyhound racing in
the state. But along with it came bad news for many of the dogs.
“With
the surplus of greyhounds in the racing industry, it’s inevitable
they end up in positions like this,” Belinda Oppenheimer, the
resident veterinarian for Greyhound
Rescue Victoria,
told the Brisbane Times.
This
wasn’t the first time greyhounds have been used in terrible
experiments in Australia. Last year, researchers at the University of
Melbourne put screws in the skulls and electrodes in the brains of
four live greyhounds. The researchers noted that the dogs experienced
“discomfort” for several days.
Even
more egregiously, dogs have also been sacrificed to test cosmetic
procedures. Last year, six greyhounds were given dental implants,
then killed six months later. “The research was certainly not
life-saving, as it was simply for human vanity,” Marston told
the Brisbane
Times in
December 2015.
Nearly
6,000 dogs are subjected to experiments in Australia every year,
ranging from simple observation to major surgery and euthanization.
The majority are former racing dogs, along with beagles bred
specifically for medical research.
Instead
of ending up in laboratories, hopefully many of the retired racing
greyhounds will end up in loving homes.
“They’re
a great lazy person’s pet,” Oppenheimer told the Brisbane Times.
“Having greyhounds that come from an unpleasant background, they
certainly pay the affection back.”
Animals
deserve better than this. Please sign
and share this petition calling
for the end to animal cruelty in Australian universities.
Photo
credit: Toms
Baugis
Teken de petitie a.u.b. en geef het door aan familie, vrienden en bekenden!
Voor meer berichten n.a.v. het bovenstaande, klik op één van de labels, die u onder dit bericht terug kan vinden, dit geldt niet voor de labels: HRA, Marston, Monash University, B. Oppenheimer en windhond.
