Other Business Commons^™

The Class B Dealer: Down And Out?, Bernard Unti

Laboratory Experiments Collection

The supply of dogs and cats to laboratories by Class B animal dealers has been a contentious matter for decades. The subject engenders heated debate whenever it surfaces, most recently in September 2005 when Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) proposed an amendment to the FY 2006 agriculture funding bill to withhold federal monies to research institutions that purchase animals from Class B dealers.

An Evaluation Of The Us High Production Volume (Hpv) Chemical-Testing Programme: A Study In (Ir)Relevance, Redundancy And Retro Thinking, Andrew Nicholson, Jessica Sandler, Troy Seidle

Experimentation Collection

Under the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Programme, chemical companies have volunteered to conduct screening-level toxicity tests on approximately 2800 widely-used industrial chemicals. Participating companies are committed to providing available toxicity information to the EPA and presenting testing proposals for review by the EPA and posting on the EPA Web site as public information. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and a coalition of animal protection organisations have reviewed all the test plans submitted by the participating chemical companies for compliance with the original HPV framework, as well as with animal welfare guidelines …

Rehabilitating Rescued Chinese Farm Bears (Ursus Thibetanus): Results, Limitations, And Implications, Peter J. Li

Bear Farming Collection

The objects of daily physical abuse and appalling deprivation for up to 22 years, rescued Chinese farm bears (Ursus thibetanus) pose a comprehensive challenge to the Chengdu Asiatic Black Bear Rescue Center, created and managed by the Animals Asia Foundation. This study looks at the unique conditions of the rescued bears, examines the center’s rehabilitation program, and identifies the program’s limitations. Despite the world-class care provided by the center and the qualitative improvement in their health, the bears have irreparable physical and mental incapacitation that undercuts their chances to survive in the wild. This situation questions the moral ground of …

China’S Bear Farming And Long-Term Solutions, Peter J. Li

Animal Welfare Collection

No abstract provided.

A Framework For Assessing The Suitability Of Different Species As Companion Animals, C. A. Schuppli, D. Fraser

Wild and Exotic Animals as Pets Collection

Municipal regulations and humane movement policies often restrict or discourage the use of 'exotic' species as companion animals. However, confusion arises because the term 'exotic' is used in various ways, and because classifying species as exotic or non-exotic does not satisfactorily distinguish suitable from unsuitable companion animals. Even among commonly kept species, some appear to be much more suitable than others. Instead, decisions about suitable companion animal species need to be based on a number of relevant issues. As ethical criteria, we considered that keeping a companion animal should not jeopardize - and ideally should enhance - its welfare, as …

Meeting Offers Hope For Fewer Animal Tests, Iver Peterson

News Reports

No abstract provided.

The Animal Slave Trade: Brutality On The Road To Research

Close Up Reports

The HSUS is working on several fronts to stop the exploitation of our nation's pets. In January, we were instrumental in establishing a coalition to abolish pound seizure-the practice of relinquishing pound and shelter animals for research purposes. Consisting of 11 of the country's leading animal welfare organizations, The National Coalition to Protect Our Pets will be working with local groups to outlaw pound seizure on a state-by-state basis. HSUS investigators will continue to trace the road to research, and we'll be taking legal action against both dealers and research centers whenever necessary. In our effort tore- r duce the …

Cruel Cosmetic Testing Could Be Stopped Today If Consumers Demanded It!

Close Up Reports

The HSUS is launching an all-out offensive to bring an end to the terror and torture endured by millions of animals used in product-safety tests for cosmetics. In recent years, pressure from the animal-welfare community has prompted cosmetic companies to begin developing more humane methods of testing their products. Despite what appears to be progress, findings of a new HSUS study indicate that non-animal alternatives for testing cosmetics may never be implemented on an industry-wide basis unless consumers take action now.

The Hsus Petitions U.S. Government To Protect Fur Seals

Close Up Reports

Since the 1960s, The Humane Society of the United States has vigorously protested this brutal clubbing of the North Pacific fur seals. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, HSUS investigator Frank McMahon repeatedly documented this slaughter and worked with government officials and others to stop it. In 1980, HSUS chief investigator Frantz Dantzler returned to continue the work. Unhappily, these constant efforts, though successful in calling this brutal activity to the attention of the American public, failed to achieve our goal of bringing the Pribilof "harvest" to an end.

Now, we have undertaken a different strategy: on Thursday, January …

The Canadian Harp Seal Hunt: A Moral Assessment, L. W. Sumner

Hunting Collection

The population of the harp seal, Pagophilus groenlandicus, is divided into three distinct breeding groups, which are centered on the White Sea, the Greenland Sea, and the northwest Atlantic. The last of these three populations, by far the largest, summers in the Arctic waters of Canada and west Greenland. In the autumn the animals in this group begin to migrate southward ahead of the advancing ice pack. By late February or early March, the females reach the breeding grounds off the coast of Newfoundland-Labrador (the Front) and near the Magdalen Islands (the Gulf). They then haul themselves out onto the …

Is Your Pet Safe From Laboratory Experimentation?

Close Up Reports

In the U.S., the path from public or private shelters to laboratories is treat too often by dogs and cats. In a few states, so-called "pound seizure" laws require shelters to turn over unclaimed or unwanted dogs and cats to researchers. In other states, shelters may voluntarily sell dogs and cats to "bunchers" who travel around a state or states, bunching animals together to resell to research facilities. Even in the handful of states that prohibit release of animals for research purposes, unscrupulous profit seekers can find animals and sell them for research across state lines.

Many scientists claim these …

Hsus Uncovers Cruel Puppy Mills

Close Up Reports

It is estimated that puppy mills grind out more than half a million puppies every year to be sold almost exclusively in pet stores. But it is not only puppies--who, after all, escape the squalor and crowding after six or seven weeks that suffer. Of equal concern is the fate of the puppy mill breeding stock-living, breathing, feeling adult dogs-used to produce these "valuable" puppies. These dogs often are forced to spend their entire lives in cramped cages or pens, with not enough food or water and no shade from the scorching midwestern sun or shelter from the brutal winter …

Sewer Science & Pound Seizure, Kenneth P. Stoller

Laboratory Experiments Collection

Significant decisions are being made in the City and County of Los Angeles over a seemingly insignificant issue- pound seizure. Outwardly, the issue is a triflepotentially inconvenienced animal research professionals vs. irate citizens who don't want lost pets sold for research. However, on another level, this conflict has imp I ications that reach to the very depths of irrationality- for far from fighting to promote the practice of pound seizure, scientists should be fighting to end it.

Animals Are Suffering: Hsus Seeks To End Rabbit Blinding Tests

Close Up Reports

The research industry has long held that the use of animals is the only "reliable" way we have of determining the safety of a cosmetic, drug, or household product. Over the years this belief has served to support scientists as they subjected animals to many tests. The American public has seen little of the massive animal suffering that has taken place in the research labs.

Today, a new debate is taking place. People from all walks of life are asking if all the suffering and death is worth it. Many research scientists have joined the ranks of those who are …

Hsus Opposes Cruel Clubbing Of Harp Seal Pups

Close Up Reports

World opinion, including that of many Canadians, has long been against the annual so-called "seal harvest" on the ice floes off the coast of Newfoundland. Yet the Canadian bureaucrats refuse to budge.

As spring approaches, protests are being raised throughout the world to end this barbaric practice. At the same time the Canadian government is attempting to convince the world that the clubbing is both "humane" and necessary.

Hsus Spotlights Circus Cruelty

Close Up Reports

Who can deny the sense of excitement the young and the young-at-heart feel when the circus comes to town? The sounds, smells, and attractions create a fantasy world where everything is fun.

But is it all good clean fun? Evidence in recent years suggests quite the contrary. The worst problems seem to be with the smaller circuses. In the past year, The HSUS has assisted several local societies investigating cruelty to animals in traveling circuses, rescued elephants and lions abandoned by a circus, and signed three complaints against one of the largest of today's small big tops.

According to Frantz …

Hsus Raids Save Suffering Dogs

Close Up Reports

In two raids separated by more than 1,000 miles, HSUS investigators seized several hundred suffering dogs, arranged for their care, and spurred legal action against the collector and breeder. Describing the two places as "cesspools", Frantz Dantzler, chief HSUS investigator, said "These two places were chosen for raids because they are typical of the many substandard puppy mills and kennels found in rural out-of-the-way America."

Both the Roseboom, New York Kennel and the Columbus, Kansas puppy mill had similar violations of humane standards and everyday common sense. Most of the seized animals had advanced cases of mange. Many animals had …

Special Report On Abuses In The Pet Industry

Special Reports

The pet industry is creating maximum danger for animals and minimal satisfaction for customers. The problem is not just the pet shop but the entire system that has been developed to supply it. None of.the major dog breeding states has laws governing breeding operations. There are even fewer laws governing pet shops.