Why Investigate Carolina and Pierce?

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Someone asked me why should I waste my time investigating Carolina Biological as to where cat cadavers are obtained and how they are killed, because LAAS alone kills 10,000 cats a year and County 20,000.

Lets look at the numbers. I have seen an estimate that 100,000 cats a year are dissected for high school classes alone. How many classes in high school require dissection? I think a small number vs. all the college classes from anatomy, biology, physiology, kinetics, pre-med, pre-vet and probably a half dozen topics I can't think of.

Colleges would include two year community colleges, four year colleges and those with graduate schools.

Just as a rough estimate, let us assume that is another 150,000 per year killed for educational uses at this level. Combined, this is a quarter million cats a year. Think how many more are sold to researchers? ALF is constantly after Huntington for exactly the same reason.

For numbers sake, LAAS kills about 10,000 a year and County about 20,000.

Therefore, the number of cats killed for lab use is 25 times the total killed for LAAS. That is, the number killed for labs is equal to 25 times LA's total kill, or about the number killed by a population of 100,000,000 people.

These are adult, healthy cats. LAAS and County kills are about 1/2 kittens. There are maybe another 30% killed because they are injured and sick. That would be the number of healthy cats killed by 250, 000,ooo people. This is a big, big number and certainly raises moral and legal problems. Using Clifton's figure of a national average of 12 cats per thousand population, we get a comparable figure of healthy cats killed by 250,000,000 people.

Carolina is the largest supplier of cat cadavers by far. Now, where would Carolina biological find 50,000 or so healthy cats, as they claim, in local Carolina shelters? They would have to be local because they claim the cats were never frozen. Carolina claims none are killed on their premises, even though 10 years ago they were caught embalming cats alive by PETA on videotape with federal charges levied against them.

Why should we believe they get 100% of their healthy cats from local shelter cadavers when before they got many from Mexico? PETA stated that cats by the hundreds were killed in Mexico and sent to Carolina Biological. If they don't freeze them, they would have to be shipped live to Carolina.

This is all supposition, but Carolina has refused to respond to many inquiries from several people concerning where they get the cats from. Also, when they were caught 15 years ago importing cats from Mexico, they were claiming even at that time that they came from shelters only.

It has been illegal for years to import cats from Mexico for Carolina's reselling purposes. So they are doing it illegally if they are doing it.

Therefore, how could any ethicist abide with a body trade that is illegal and who contends that vegetarians are like Nazis. It is alleged that students in Shapiro's classes are bombarded with rants to this end on a daily basis. It is alleged that Shapiro strongly supports the idea that India turn its back on thousands of years of tradition of not hurting cows or monkeys.

So, were do the cats come from? It is alleged that Shapiro has responded to this question in many different ways over the years, including that they come from near the Mexican border in the US. In fact, he changed his story on where they get the cats in two emails from me.

Where would Carolina find 50,000 cats in Nogales, El Paso or San Ysidro? They could not. There are not 50,000,000 people near the border. And, across the border trade is illegal and trucks crossing the border with cadavers do so illegally.

This means that the cats may come from local sources, such as breeders who raise cats just for research. They may get them from "bunchers" who get them off the street all over the country. They may trap feral cats, but persons who do so are usually harassed by animals lovers all over the country and ferla cats are found mostly in urban areas. Now, do you think a trapper would make the distinction between feral and homeless and return them to the street where they found them?

Since neither Shapiro nor Carolina are stepping up to the plate of honest disclosure, and neither has rebutted any claims that the cats do not come deceased from shelters, and neither has supplied shelter contact numbers, what are we left to believe? If they do not deny the charges, I think it is a good assumption that they obtain the cats illegally, which I would think is immoral.

This is why Shapiro's use of cadavers is a big issue, and where he or Carolina Biological obtain them is a bigger issue. Also, if they are not obtained dead from shelters, how and where are they killed?

Why won't Shapiro show invoices of cats obtained by Carolina? Why won't Carolina even respond to inquiries of where the cats come from?

I think they don't because they may be obtained illegally across borders, or from breeders or from bunchers.

The onus is on them to respond to these allegations. Why have they not responded?

Dr. Shapiro, where do your cats come from? Please make public where they come from either by faxing the invoices to me from the purchase source as well as the numbers of cadavers obtained.

Please, as I requested from you before, help me find out where Carolina gets the cats from, if, indeed you get them from Carolina.

Until then, expect endless inquiries and several Requests for Public Records of communications between you or Pierce to Carolina, including invoices and emails. You may later claim no such communications exist, but you emailed me that you obtained them from Carolina. If you claim the invoices and emails are lost, what can we believe?

Fess up Dr. Shapiro.

I also understand you are quite litigious and are always threatening lawsuits to stop what you characterize as attempts to shut your program down. Why? Why don';t you address these questions honestly and openly?
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