Class B Dealers Sell 'Lost Pets' to Medical Research Labs
Watch Out Sparky. Your Next Stop May Be the Medical Research Lab
It's bad enough to tell your children that Sparky is lost, but it'd be much worse to tell them that Sparky is being dissected by the college students downtown. The Humane Society estimated that about 18,000 dogs and cats are picked up each year and then sold to university laboratories. Some of these animals are found through classified 'looking for a good home' adoption listings, and some are lost pets.
Those who scoop up the stray animals and sell them to labs are called Class B Dealers, and it is estimated that there are fewer of them around today than in the past, but they are still around. These Class B Dealers scour the streets of neighborhoods looking for dogs and cats that may have become lost from their homes. They also search the classified ads for animals that have been listed for adoption. The Humane Society estimates that 20% of all animals that are used in medical research labs come from these Class B Dealers
Animal advocacy groups are now hoping that it will be made illegal to sell strays for scientific purposes. However on the other side of the coin, medical research labs are arguing that animals that come from unknown origins are not used in their testings. Animal advocacy leaders are hoping that a change will be imminent. They believe that only animals that are donated by their owners, are not strays, or are living in a shelter should be given over to medical research labs.
Right now the bill, entitled 'Buck's Bill' after a black hound dog who was mistreated by a Class B Dealer, is still up for debate in Congress. Many people treat their pets as part of the family, almost as if they're just another relative. It is heart wrenching when a pet becomes lost, but at least if Buck's Bill were passed it would be a much less likely scenario that the cherished pet would end up in a medical laboratory.
Associated Press, " Humane Society Pushes to Ban Pet Sales to Labs." MSNBC News. URL: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18662520/)
Published by Miss Jac
I'm a fighter, not a lover. I like things a little more sour than sweet. I make a mean grilled cheese. View profile
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15 Comments
Post a Commentif a pet is lost, they should consider other options in this order before resulting to this:
1. looking for their owner.
2. for adaption
3. donate for research
4. utinized. (last resort)
Like Carol said, this has been a concern for a long time. Just because humans are bigger, stronger, and seemingly more intelligent doesn't give us the right to abuse animals.
This is atrocious, and should be outlawed. Animals havefeelings, would any of these second rate dealers and the cold, indifferent
people that do the actual scientific experiments sell their baby infants or children for disection? They have some nerve, and this should be stopped now!
Sadly there are worse fates - and I wonder how many that go for those other things are 'blamed' on this. Many labs, as I understand it, need known, certain characteristics - which wouldn't be possible with stolen/stray dogs and cats. :-( There is a segment though that doesn't care about previous care or what it is.
Yesterday there was an article on the front page concerning animal welfare that I necessarily disagreed with. Today, I'm reminded of this issue, and I'm astoundedly angry. While I disagree with many AR fundamentalists, this is just outrage.
Thanks for the feedback!
So sad and so true. What happens to these animals is heart-wrenching and disgusting. This is why placing ads in newspapers for "free kittens/puppies" is so dangerous. This is exactly what the dealers are looking for to sell to the torture-chambers. Thank you for this article.
This is just awful! These are people's family members! Thanks for the info!
Thank you for spreading the news and reminding people about this atrocity.
This has been going on for a very long time- my mother warned me about it when I was a kid in the 1960s and our cat had kittens and we were looking for homes for them. Legislation is needed to stop vivisection and animal research altogether. Why should shelter animals be subjected to this any more than a stray? Buck's Bill needs to be improved drastically or it will just give "rights" to these animal dealers which will then be harder to take away.