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PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO ALL ORGANIZATIONS, ACTIVISTS, AND EMAIL LISTS
I do not have good
news for you. Animal experimentation is increasing.
Why do I say that
animal experimentation is increasing? The National Institutes of Health
(NIH) funds more animal experiments than any other government agency.
The number of grants (involving animal use) funded by the NIH increased
12% from 2001 � 2002.
12% is a dry
statistic. It cannot convey suffering and death.
Animal experiments
vary. A single experiment can involve anywhere from 1 to hundreds, or
even thousands of animals. During 2002 the NIH funded almost 3600
more grants that used animals than in 2001.
Each one of these grants caused
suffering in animals. Common occurrences during animal experiments
include: electric shock, the confinement of primates to restraint chairs
for periods of up to 104 hours, deprivation of food or water, and the
placement of electrodes into the brain. Animals are subjected to
addictive drugs, chemical weapons, radiation, caustic chemicals, and too
many other horrendous abuses to even mention.
As horrible as that last paragraph
sounded it cannot even begin to convey the suffering, the agony, the
misery that these innocent animals suffer. We will never be able to
understand any of this because most of us have never seen it, and we
have certainly never experienced it.
But I have seen this. I have seen
animal experiments. I have heard the scream of a rabbit as he/she died
of a broken back. I have seen hopelessness in the eyes of primates
confined in too small cages. I have seen playful young cats oblivious
of their destiny in a laboratory. And I have seen empty dog runs that
had contained friendly canines only a few hours earlier.
We all have a choice.
We can turn away from these painful pictures -- leaving the animals to
suffer and die, or we can choose to fight. We can choose to make a
difference.
It is all too easy to walk away.
Our lives move at a pace which tends to sweep us forward without our
consent. Our busy schedules make it far too easy to forget the unseen
suffering of innocent animals in laboratories.
But we must not forget the rabbits
who scream, the monkeys who pace endlessly, and the dogs & cats who die
in laboratories every day. We must not forget because we, you and
I, are responsible for their suffering.
Yes, we are responsible. We are
to blame. Our tax dollars are used to pay for these brutal
experiments. Over $23 million of our tax dollars are spent on NIH-funded
animal experiments every day.
We must stop this atrocity. We
must end the slaughter. It is up to us. No one will do it for us.
But how? What can we do that will
really make a difference?
First, we must
decide to take a stance. We must realize that it is our responsibility
-- our duty -- to fight for the animals.
Second, we must
realize that we can be much more effective if we work together. One
activist is easy to ignore, but hundreds or even thousands of us cannot
be ignored. Together we can bring down the edifice that imprisons,
tortures and kills millions of animals every year.
Third, we must agree
to take decisive action, and take it soon. But we must also allow
sufficient time to bring our efforts together in the most effective
fashion.
Therefore, I
would like to ask you to immediately begin to organize events for World
Laboratory Animal Liberation Week 2003, April 19th � 27th.
The first step in
participating in this important event is to sign up. The online
sign-up sheet can be found at:
http://www.all-creatures.org/wlalw/events-signup.html
Please let us know as soon as possible that you will be participating.
We will be assembling an online list of participating organizations to
enable individual activists to find events in their area. The sooner we
hear from your organization, the sooner your group will be posted.
You will be able to find other
assistance for this event on this website, including reproducible
fact sheets and photos that can be used in the preparation of
your own materials. The website also contains educational articles
which contain important information about animal experimentation. The
Resources section of the website contains links to other websites which
can be used to find the truth about laboratories in your area.
Our main website
www.saenonline.org
also contains many useful resources, including information on using the
Federal Freedom of Information Act and similar state laws for the
purpose of investigating laboratories. The Press Releases
section of this website contains examples of press releases which have
been successful in obtaining media attention, as well as contact
information for an activist who will write and disseminate press
releases for grassroots organizations.
Please begin to plan your
WLALW 2003 events now so that they can be as effective as possible.
The bottom line is that the millions of animals that suffer and die in
U.S. laboratories every year are depending on us to fight for them.
They have no other voice, no other advocate. If we do not speak up for
them the suffering will only increase. If we do not fight for them the
death toll will spiral upward endlessly.
If you think you are too busy �
remember the macaque monkeys who are sitting in restraint chairs right
now. If you think you can�t speak up � remember the rabbits who have
caustic chemicals in their eyes right now. If you want to forget these
unpleasant issues � remember the dogs and cats who are dying at this
very moment. If we turn away, if we do not act, then we are just as
responsible as those who actually perform the experiments.
Please go to our websites:
www.wlalw.org and
www.saenonline.org
and start planning your World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week events
now. If I can be of any help, do not hesitate to contact me
personally. I will be happy to help you locate a target for your local
group to focus on, or point you towards an organization that can support
your work more fully.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T.,
Executive Director, SAEN
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