.
More and more information is coming to me anonymously and from the Internet about Pierce and its connection with LA Animal Services, including an ACO at West Valley, Stacy Dancy.
ALL the information below is unconfirmed, an allegation only until proven.
Apparently instances of farm animal neglect were reported to Animal Services in 2005.
The animals in question were immediately reported to Pierce College by Stacy Dancy, a West Valley Shelter ACO.
These allegedly neglected or abused animals were then sent to slaughter the morning before the LA Animal Cruelty Task Force was to arrive and inspect the campus animals, thereby destroying the evidence of abuse. The Task Force later made a pro forma appearance nine days later.
I am quite sure the ACTF knows about the alleged relationship between Pierce and Dancy, if the relationship does exist. If so, why isn't something being done?
Allegedly, Dancy has an agreement with Dr. Richard South, Director of the entire Pierce Agriculture program, to board her cows on campus.
In turn, she protects the school from any and all charges of abuse and surprise visits from the Animal Cruelty Task Force.
Jeez, no wonder they went after Mason, because they could find him with a surprise visit, while Dancy allegedly gives Pierce a chance to kill the animals before the Task Force arrives.
Dancy allegedly is the only student allowed to conduct a private agricultural enterprise using the LAPC campus. She also serves on the IACUC, which is the institutional animal care and use committee and must abide by the Animal Welfare Act, which Carolina didn't in the mid 1990s.
Hey, anyone, I want to know more. Please send comments.
Some photos of the Pierce farm animals are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/piercefarmwatch/
I do not know whether the photos are of the ones reported to Animal Services as abused. The upload date is April 23, 2006 and they could have been taken anytime.
So, Darcy boards her cows on campus and protects Pierce's animal programs from investigation.
I hope Ed Boks and the Animal Cruelty Task Force question Stacy and also the alleged co-conspirator, Dr. Richard South. email: SouthRW@piercecollege.edu <SouthRW@piercecollege.edu>
Does anyone out there know anything more about the alleged unique business relationship Stacy Dancy has with Drs. South or Shapiro? Who at LAAS knows about this alleged "special" relationship and how many cows Dancy is raising on the Pierce Campus?
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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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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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Pierce Can't Afford a Vet to Run Its Pre-Vet Program?
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Leland Shapiro, Director of Pierce College's Pre-Veterinary Science Program and Professor of Animal Sciences, is a fraud in the sense he is not a state registered veterinarian or registered veterinarian tech.
http://www.vmb.ca.gov/consumers/licverif.shtml
I guess one can head a college department that trains anyone in anything, such as a Ph.D. in biology director of an advanced physics department, but such management certainly would be deficient in the sense he'd have no knowledge of what physicists need.
Just so, I guess Shapiro could be the director of the department and not a licensed vet or tech, because Pierce would not have to pay a licensed vet's higher salary.
Shapiro is on the ethics board of Pierce college where he advocates dissection and medical experiments on animals. I don't know yet what his association is with Pierce's farm, but there is a farm watch site alleging abuse of the farm animals.
http://www.piercefarmwatch.org/
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Leland Shapiro, Director of Pierce College's Pre-Veterinary Science Program and Professor of Animal Sciences, is a fraud in the sense he is not a state registered veterinarian or registered veterinarian tech.
http://www.vmb.ca.gov/consumers/licverif.shtml
I guess one can head a college department that trains anyone in anything, such as a Ph.D. in biology director of an advanced physics department, but such management certainly would be deficient in the sense he'd have no knowledge of what physicists need.
Just so, I guess Shapiro could be the director of the department and not a licensed vet or tech, because Pierce would not have to pay a licensed vet's higher salary.
Shapiro is on the ethics board of Pierce college where he advocates dissection and medical experiments on animals. I don't know yet what his association is with Pierce's farm, but there is a farm watch site alleging abuse of the farm animals.
http://www.piercefarmwatch.org/
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Who is Dr. Shapiro?
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Let me tell you a bit about the beloved Dr. Cows of Pierce.
I understand he uses his classes as his personal platform for a campaign against anyone who does not support the production and consumption of animals and animal products.
I also hear that he openly compares vegans and vegetarians to Adolf Hitler. He claims that the reason there are so many starving people in India is because they don't eat cows.
He represents himself as a veterinary professional. I hear he is not nor has he ever been a doctor of veterinary medicine or a registered veterinary technician.
This is something I need to check up on. How can a non-vet or non-vet-tech be the director of the Pre-Vet program at Pierce? Inquiring minds want to know.
He conducts his lectures to eager young minds as if he is an authority in the field and WILL NOT correct anyone who refers to him as such.
He has an entire Pre-Veterinary student body believing that their hopes and dreams to become DVM's depend upon his almighty recommendation to veterinary school and that they have no choice but to agree with his position or never get accepted.
I heard his campaign includes convincing his students that anyone who disagrees with him or his position is "trying to shut down the program."
I have been warned that a lot of kids who do not know any better will be sent marching my way like little puppets chanting his mantra and that they were not an enlightened bunch.
Sounds ominous.
In any event, by doing google searches and finding other sources such as the Pierce Farm Watch, I am finding that cats are just the tip of the iceberg at Pierce College.
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Let me tell you a bit about the beloved Dr. Cows of Pierce.
I understand he uses his classes as his personal platform for a campaign against anyone who does not support the production and consumption of animals and animal products.
I also hear that he openly compares vegans and vegetarians to Adolf Hitler. He claims that the reason there are so many starving people in India is because they don't eat cows.
He represents himself as a veterinary professional. I hear he is not nor has he ever been a doctor of veterinary medicine or a registered veterinary technician.
This is something I need to check up on. How can a non-vet or non-vet-tech be the director of the Pre-Vet program at Pierce? Inquiring minds want to know.
He conducts his lectures to eager young minds as if he is an authority in the field and WILL NOT correct anyone who refers to him as such.
He has an entire Pre-Veterinary student body believing that their hopes and dreams to become DVM's depend upon his almighty recommendation to veterinary school and that they have no choice but to agree with his position or never get accepted.
I heard his campaign includes convincing his students that anyone who disagrees with him or his position is "trying to shut down the program."
I have been warned that a lot of kids who do not know any better will be sent marching my way like little puppets chanting his mantra and that they were not an enlightened bunch.
Sounds ominous.
In any event, by doing google searches and finding other sources such as the Pierce Farm Watch, I am finding that cats are just the tip of the iceberg at Pierce College.
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Shelter Trak's Incredible Statistics
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Brad Jensen of Sheltertrak.com just posted a link to the incredible wealth of statistics and charts as visual aids to see how LAAS has done over the last 4 years through May of this year. This is a must see:
http://www.sheltertrak.com/stat_laas000.php
Brad Jensen of Sheltertrak.com just posted a link to the incredible wealth of statistics and charts as visual aids to see how LAAS has done over the last 4 years through May of this year. This is a must see:
http://www.sheltertrak.com/stat_laas000.php
Did Shapiro Stop Harassment?
After I emailed my open letter to Dr. Shapiro to a dozen or so Pierce faculty, the harassing comments demanding I leave alone pursuing the connection between Pierce and Carolina biological have stopped.
Neither Carolina nor Shapiro have followed up with further information about where Carolina gets the cats for dissection. Since there has been no response, I assume nothing has changed and Carolina us still getting many of its cats from Mexico where they are picked up off the street.
Shapiro does not see this as a moral or ethical issue. He sees anyone involved in the animal rights movement as "hollow" and empty. I just don't get this perspective. If he perceives a love and desire to protect animals as moral shallowness, that speaks volumes about where he comes from.
I sent a copy of my letter to ADL, one of whom responded "He sounds like he is on crack."
My next step is to get my letter to Pierce's students. I wonder if they will be hollow and empty too after seeing dissected cat photos and hearing the "truth" (or at least unrebutted allegations about Shapiro, Carolina and Pierce).
Shapiro has written an "ethics" book justifying the use of animals for dissection, research and even addiction studies. I wonder if he understands the difference between ethics and morality.
The photo immediately above may have been taken just days before he dissected the cute monkeys. The photo was probably taken for the Pierce website so that he appears compassionate about animals.
What a fraud.
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New AGM On Job
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I've know for a few weeks that a new GM had been hired, but did not know her name or back ground. Her name is Kathy Davis.
I really don't know much about her. I did a google on Kathy Davis and there are three Kathy's that conceivably would fit the bill.
I hope she helps out.
I can't believe that the kill rate for just euth alone has climbed 31% even as impounds only increased 21%.
After Boks made substantial phony progress last year by refusing kittens, and cut deaths by about 2,800, we find this year he is not cheating and the kill rate is going up.
Kathy, help us!
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I've know for a few weeks that a new GM had been hired, but did not know her name or back ground. Her name is Kathy Davis.
I really don't know much about her. I did a google on Kathy Davis and there are three Kathy's that conceivably would fit the bill.
I hope she helps out.
I can't believe that the kill rate for just euth alone has climbed 31% even as impounds only increased 21%.
After Boks made substantial phony progress last year by refusing kittens, and cut deaths by about 2,800, we find this year he is not cheating and the kill rate is going up.
Kathy, help us!
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Cats Still Killed Twice as Often as Dogs at LAAS
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The following is from Brad Jensen at www.sheltertrak.com.
Notice the extremely poor survival rate for cats through June 1, 2008. Nothing has really changed much since Boks started.
The cat kill rate is much more than double. The Died in Shelter Rate is triple than for dogs. Dogs have a 1,700% higher Return to Owner rate and adoptions are about 30% lower than dogs.
Why? The same reason Pierce uses cat cadavers; they are readily available because people and shelters care less about them, let them wander free in the streets and have little sense of responsibility towards them compared to dogs. Also, I think just because they are smaller than dogs makes some people regard them less.
AND, Boks is not extremely allergic to dogs as he is to cats, and kennel workers fear handling them from fear of getting bitten.
You know, sometimes reporting on the utter failures of LAAS and County seems pointless. Nothing seems to improve much and no one is held accountable. The Mayor and Supervisors ignore all statistics about their dismal failure, and say Boks and Mayeda are wonderful administrators and both run the biggest adoption agencies and are almost no-kill status.
Even more remarkable than Boks' lack of accomplishment is that Mayeda's record is so much worse, probably the worst of any other large shelter system in the county, and she has been in charge for seven years, but no one at County seems to care.
The following is from Brad Jensen at www.sheltertrak.com.
Notice the extremely poor survival rate for cats through June 1, 2008. Nothing has really changed much since Boks started.
The 6% "Other" category is basically cats that died in shelter. Therefore the kill rate for cats is an appalling 57% compared to 25% for dogs.
Compare this dismal kill/save rate with that for dogs.
The cat kill rate is much more than double. The Died in Shelter Rate is triple than for dogs. Dogs have a 1,700% higher Return to Owner rate and adoptions are about 30% lower than dogs.
Why? The same reason Pierce uses cat cadavers; they are readily available because people and shelters care less about them, let them wander free in the streets and have little sense of responsibility towards them compared to dogs. Also, I think just because they are smaller than dogs makes some people regard them less.
AND, Boks is not extremely allergic to dogs as he is to cats, and kennel workers fear handling them from fear of getting bitten.
You know, sometimes reporting on the utter failures of LAAS and County seems pointless. Nothing seems to improve much and no one is held accountable. The Mayor and Supervisors ignore all statistics about their dismal failure, and say Boks and Mayeda are wonderful administrators and both run the biggest adoption agencies and are almost no-kill status.
Even more remarkable than Boks' lack of accomplishment is that Mayeda's record is so much worse, probably the worst of any other large shelter system in the county, and she has been in charge for seven years, but no one at County seems to care.
Obama was widely criticized when he said people in the rural and Midwest areas are so used to having government ignore them, that they have grown bitter and cling to their religion and guns. Well, we have grown bitter and only fight with each other for tidbits and micro changes. Why is unity so hard to achieve in the animal community so that we can throw the rascals out?
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Horror Movie On Farm Animals
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Do not watch unless you can tolerate a lot of emotional pain. What gets me is the utter distain the workers have in treating the animals. Send this link to your meat-eating friends.
http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp?gclid=CJvG__Prn5QCFRwvagodpUCitQ
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Do not watch unless you can tolerate a lot of emotional pain. What gets me is the utter distain the workers have in treating the animals. Send this link to your meat-eating friends.
http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp?gclid=CJvG__Prn5QCFRwvagodpUCitQ
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Letter to Dr. Shapiro at Pierce College
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Dr. Shapiro,
Someone has been sending comments to my blog that I ought to leave alone the story about how cats are obtained for dissection by vet students at Pierce, and that I should be doing more investigative reporting about the City and County shelters. That wouldn't be you, would it?
It is strange to get several comments that I should leave a story alone that does not involve public shelters or officials, and only involves the relationship between Pierce and Carolina Biological. It is also strange that the comments started coming to my blog at the same time you stopped answering my emails.
Carolina Biological has refused to respond to any and all requests for specific shelters that they allege supply them with cat cadavers. And, of course, I sent you information about their history of violating animal welfare laws, such as embalming cats alive revealed in undercover videos taken by PETA followed by citations by the federal government.
In fact, the PETA investigation revealed that Carolina stated even then what they are still stating now, that all the cat cadavers supplied are from shelters, when in fact most were coming from Mexico where they were picked off the street by the poor. Of course, this was 14 years ago and things may have changed for the better.
The entire story is below on an earlier posting on this blog at the URL below.
There are the legal issues involved around shelters selling cadavers, to resellers, not the least of which they are considered toxic waste due to the Fatal Plus injections. Some cities also require a specific ordinance to allow this.
In undated legal papers on the web, Carolina supplied two alleged shelter contact numbers. On calling, I found neither phone numbers are for the public shelters indicated and one is a FAX.
Even then there are the moral issues, as you as a bioethicist should be concerned with, as are all related issues of pound seizure: how are the animals chosen to be killed?
If Carolina wants only healthy cats from shelters, that means adoptable cats that likely could find a home are killed for profit. Healthy cats in LA's shelter system, if not under 8 week old kittens or feral, have a fairly high rate of adoption.
This means that an estimated 100,000 adoptable cats are killed nationally just for high school lab use. I wonder how many more are killed for college anatomy classes and pre-vet training across the country.
These and ethical and legal issues that directly involve you and Pierce. I think you need share your opinions on these issues publicly, and perhaps debate with local animal rights spokespersons if you are up to it. I hope you share with your students that the source of the cadavers you use is Carolina Biological, and that you cannot personally vouch for the truth of their statements regarding the source of the cats dissected at Pierce.
You do teach a course called Animal Science Ethical and Legal Issues. I certainly think Pierce College's use of dissected cats from unknown sources is first an investigative issue, then legal and ethical issues.
I would be concerned about pre-vet students who were not concerned about where the cadavers came from.
Another curiosity issue, if Carolina gets skinned cat cadavers from shelters, why do they not sell skinned dog cadavers? Why skinned cats and not dogs? Is the cat anatomy enough transferable to dog anatomy for pre-vet training that dog cadavers are not needed? Or, is it that the moral and ethical issues are more palpable when dogs are involved? Why species discrimination?
There are many issues to be explored here including your branding of animal rights groups as America's new extremists, and your very public opposition to these groups.
Edward Muzika, Ph.D.
www.laanimalwatch.blogspot.com
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Dr. Shapiro,
Someone has been sending comments to my blog that I ought to leave alone the story about how cats are obtained for dissection by vet students at Pierce, and that I should be doing more investigative reporting about the City and County shelters. That wouldn't be you, would it?
It is strange to get several comments that I should leave a story alone that does not involve public shelters or officials, and only involves the relationship between Pierce and Carolina Biological. It is also strange that the comments started coming to my blog at the same time you stopped answering my emails.
Carolina Biological has refused to respond to any and all requests for specific shelters that they allege supply them with cat cadavers. And, of course, I sent you information about their history of violating animal welfare laws, such as embalming cats alive revealed in undercover videos taken by PETA followed by citations by the federal government.
In fact, the PETA investigation revealed that Carolina stated even then what they are still stating now, that all the cat cadavers supplied are from shelters, when in fact most were coming from Mexico where they were picked off the street by the poor. Of course, this was 14 years ago and things may have changed for the better.
The entire story is below on an earlier posting on this blog at the URL below.
There are the legal issues involved around shelters selling cadavers, to resellers, not the least of which they are considered toxic waste due to the Fatal Plus injections. Some cities also require a specific ordinance to allow this.
In undated legal papers on the web, Carolina supplied two alleged shelter contact numbers. On calling, I found neither phone numbers are for the public shelters indicated and one is a FAX.
Even then there are the moral issues, as you as a bioethicist should be concerned with, as are all related issues of pound seizure: how are the animals chosen to be killed?
If Carolina wants only healthy cats from shelters, that means adoptable cats that likely could find a home are killed for profit. Healthy cats in LA's shelter system, if not under 8 week old kittens or feral, have a fairly high rate of adoption.
This means that an estimated 100,000 adoptable cats are killed nationally just for high school lab use. I wonder how many more are killed for college anatomy classes and pre-vet training across the country.
These and ethical and legal issues that directly involve you and Pierce. I think you need share your opinions on these issues publicly, and perhaps debate with local animal rights spokespersons if you are up to it. I hope you share with your students that the source of the cadavers you use is Carolina Biological, and that you cannot personally vouch for the truth of their statements regarding the source of the cats dissected at Pierce.
You do teach a course called Animal Science Ethical and Legal Issues. I certainly think Pierce College's use of dissected cats from unknown sources is first an investigative issue, then legal and ethical issues.
I would be concerned about pre-vet students who were not concerned about where the cadavers came from.
Another curiosity issue, if Carolina gets skinned cat cadavers from shelters, why do they not sell skinned dog cadavers? Why skinned cats and not dogs? Is the cat anatomy enough transferable to dog anatomy for pre-vet training that dog cadavers are not needed? Or, is it that the moral and ethical issues are more palpable when dogs are involved? Why species discrimination?
There are many issues to be explored here including your branding of animal rights groups as America's new extremists, and your very public opposition to these groups.
Edward Muzika, Ph.D.
www.laanimalwatch.blogspot.com
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China's Execution Vans: Better Death for Profit
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From the same country that supplied us with poisoned pet food, toys and drugs, as well as beat puppies to death for restaurant food, we find a new twist on how China treats living beings for profit.
By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY
CHONGQING, China — Zhang Shiqiang, known as the Nine-Fingered Devil, first tasted justice at 13. His father caught him stealing and cut off one of Zhang's fingers.
Twenty-five years later, in 2004, Zhang met retribution once more, after his conviction for double murder and rape. He was one of the first people put to death in China's new fleet of mobile execution chambers.
The country that executed more than four times as many convicts as the rest of the world combined last year is slowly phasing out public executions by firing squad in favor of lethal injections. Unlike the United States and Singapore, the only two other countries where death is administered by injection, China metes out capital punishment from specially equipped "death vans" that shuttle from town to town.
The country that executed more than four times as many convicts as the rest of the world combined last year is slowly phasing out public executions by firing squad in favor of lethal injections. Unlike the United States and Singapore, the only two other countries where death is administered by injection, China metes out capital punishment from specially equipped "death vans" that shuttle from town to town.
Makers of the death vans say the vehicles and injections are a civilized alternative to the firing squad, ending the life of the condemned more quickly, clinically and safely. The switch from gunshots to injections is a sign that China "promotes human rights now," says Kang Zhongwen, who designed the Jinguan Automobile death van in which "Devil" Zhang took his final ride.
State secret
For years, foreign human rights groups have accused China of arbitrary executions and cruelty in its use of capital punishment. The exact number of convicts put to death is a state secret. Amnesty International estimates there were at least 1,770 executions in China in 2005 — vs. 60 in the United States, but the group says on its website that the toll could be as high as 8,000 prisoners.
The "majority are still by gunshot," says Liu Renwen, death penalty researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a think tank in Beijing. "But the use of injections has grown in recent years, and may have reached 40%."
China's critics contend that the transition from firing squads to injections in death vans facilitates an illegal trade in prisoners' organs.
Injections leave the whole body intact and require participation of doctors. Organs can "be extracted in a speedier and more effective way than if the prisoner is shot," says Mark Allison, East Asia researcher at Amnesty International in Hong Kong. "We have gathered strong evidence suggesting the involvement of (Chinese) police, courts and hospitals in the organ trade."
China's refusal to give outsiders access to the bodies of executed prisoners has added to suspicions about what happens afterward.
Chinese authorities are sensitive to allegations that they are complicit in the organ trade. In March, the Ministry of Health issued regulations explicitly banning the sale of organs and tightening approval standards for transplants.
Even so, Amnesty International said in a report in April that huge profits from the sale of prisoners' organs might be part of why China refuses to consider doing away with the death penalty.
"Given the high commercial value of organs, it is doubtful the new regulations will have an effect," Allison says.
Local executions
Makers of death vans say they save money for poor localities that would otherwise have to pay to construct execution facilities in prisons or court buildings. The vans ensure that prisoners sentenced to death can be executed locally, closer to communities where they broke the law.
From the outside, the vans resemble the police vehicles seen daily on China's roads. A look inside reveals their function.
"I'm most proud of the bed. It's very humane, like an ambulance," Kang says. He points to the power-driven metal stretcher that glides out at an incline. "It's too brutal to haul a person aboard," he says. "This makes it convenient for the criminal and the guards."
The lethal cocktail used in the injections is mixed only in Beijing, something that has prompted complaints from local courts.
Qiu has attended executions by firing squad where the kneeling prisoner is shot in the back of the head. The guards "ask the prisoner to open his mouth, so the bullet can pass out of the mouth and leave the face intact," he says.
No debate
In the United States, some death row inmates and death penalty opponents want the Supreme Court to declare lethal injections cruel and unusual. A recent lawsuit claimed inmates suffer excruciating pain during executions because they do not get enough anesthetic.
There is no such debate in China, which uses the same three-drug cocktail as the U.S. federal government and most U.S. states: sodium thiopental to make the condemned unconscious, pancuronium bromide to stop breathing, potassium chloride to stop the heart.
Chinese prisoners condemned to death are not offered a choice of injection over gunshot, but Qiu and others suspect wealth and connections can buy the newer method.
Sixty-eight different crimes — more than half non-violent offenses such as tax evasion and drug smuggling — are punishable by death in China. That means the death vans are likely to keep rolling.
State secret
For years, foreign human rights groups have accused China of arbitrary executions and cruelty in its use of capital punishment. The exact number of convicts put to death is a state secret. Amnesty International estimates there were at least 1,770 executions in China in 2005 — vs. 60 in the United States, but the group says on its website that the toll could be as high as 8,000 prisoners.
The "majority are still by gunshot," says Liu Renwen, death penalty researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a think tank in Beijing. "But the use of injections has grown in recent years, and may have reached 40%."
China's critics contend that the transition from firing squads to injections in death vans facilitates an illegal trade in prisoners' organs.
Injections leave the whole body intact and require participation of doctors. Organs can "be extracted in a speedier and more effective way than if the prisoner is shot," says Mark Allison, East Asia researcher at Amnesty International in Hong Kong. "We have gathered strong evidence suggesting the involvement of (Chinese) police, courts and hospitals in the organ trade."
China's refusal to give outsiders access to the bodies of executed prisoners has added to suspicions about what happens afterward.
Chinese authorities are sensitive to allegations that they are complicit in the organ trade. In March, the Ministry of Health issued regulations explicitly banning the sale of organs and tightening approval standards for transplants.
Even so, Amnesty International said in a report in April that huge profits from the sale of prisoners' organs might be part of why China refuses to consider doing away with the death penalty.
"Given the high commercial value of organs, it is doubtful the new regulations will have an effect," Allison says.
Local executions
Makers of death vans say they save money for poor localities that would otherwise have to pay to construct execution facilities in prisons or court buildings. The vans ensure that prisoners sentenced to death can be executed locally, closer to communities where they broke the law.
From the outside, the vans resemble the police vehicles seen daily on China's roads. A look inside reveals their function.
"I'm most proud of the bed. It's very humane, like an ambulance," Kang says. He points to the power-driven metal stretcher that glides out at an incline. "It's too brutal to haul a person aboard," he says. "This makes it convenient for the criminal and the guards."
The lethal cocktail used in the injections is mixed only in Beijing, something that has prompted complaints from local courts.
Qiu has attended executions by firing squad where the kneeling prisoner is shot in the back of the head. The guards "ask the prisoner to open his mouth, so the bullet can pass out of the mouth and leave the face intact," he says.
No debate
In the United States, some death row inmates and death penalty opponents want the Supreme Court to declare lethal injections cruel and unusual. A recent lawsuit claimed inmates suffer excruciating pain during executions because they do not get enough anesthetic.
There is no such debate in China, which uses the same three-drug cocktail as the U.S. federal government and most U.S. states: sodium thiopental to make the condemned unconscious, pancuronium bromide to stop breathing, potassium chloride to stop the heart.
Chinese prisoners condemned to death are not offered a choice of injection over gunshot, but Qiu and others suspect wealth and connections can buy the newer method.
Sixty-eight different crimes — more than half non-violent offenses such as tax evasion and drug smuggling — are punishable by death in China. That means the death vans are likely to keep rolling.
Carolina Biological Charged with Violations of the Federal Animal Welfare Act
Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) - Quarterly
Summary: p. 7, "Carolina Biological Supply Company charged under Animal Welfare Act". The US Department of Agriculture charged Carolina Biological Supplies Co. (CBSC), a licensed animal dealer, with five willful violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.
The USDA's charge was supported by Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Charges included failure to provide adequate veterinary care, improper euthenization of at least 10 cats and embalming the cats while they were still alive.
OTHER SOURCES: AA, "Humane Enforcement," 12/1/91, p.35. A PETA undercover probe initially exposed abuses at CBSC, the nation's leading supplier of animals to schools; PETA Annual Review, 1/1/91, p.5, "Research & Investigations -- Justice for CBSC." PETA furnished the USDA and local law enforcement authorities with evidence demonstrating AWA and state violations in the form of videotapes and eyewitness affidavits.
The USDA attempted to abdicate responsibility by refusing to the overwhelming body of 'outside agency' evidence PETA had amassed against CBSC. PETA forced the USDA to deal with the case by returning evidence to the USDA and invoking the internal watchdog assistance of the USDA's Inspector General. CBSC's main cat dealer surrendered his USDA license and was denied a new one when he reapplied.
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Summary: p. 7, "Carolina Biological Supply Company charged under Animal Welfare Act". The US Department of Agriculture charged Carolina Biological Supplies Co. (CBSC), a licensed animal dealer, with five willful violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.
The USDA's charge was supported by Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Charges included failure to provide adequate veterinary care, improper euthenization of at least 10 cats and embalming the cats while they were still alive.
OTHER SOURCES: AA, "Humane Enforcement," 12/1/91, p.35. A PETA undercover probe initially exposed abuses at CBSC, the nation's leading supplier of animals to schools; PETA Annual Review, 1/1/91, p.5, "Research & Investigations -- Justice for CBSC." PETA furnished the USDA and local law enforcement authorities with evidence demonstrating AWA and state violations in the form of videotapes and eyewitness affidavits.
The USDA attempted to abdicate responsibility by refusing to the overwhelming body of 'outside agency' evidence PETA had amassed against CBSC. PETA forced the USDA to deal with the case by returning evidence to the USDA and invoking the internal watchdog assistance of the USDA's Inspector General. CBSC's main cat dealer surrendered his USDA license and was denied a new one when he reapplied.
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The Truth About Classroom Dissection
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As I have stated in many posts below, I sincerely doubt the cats were obtained from shelters. I stated the reasons.
Carolina Biological refuses to validate the claim that that is where they obtained the cats by providing contact numbers for these alleged supplying shelters.
Also, the problem of logistics of non-frozen cats made the issue of closeness to Carolina. It appears they are killed close by so they can process the cats before they decompose as would happen to day or two old cats from a shelter.
I just got confirmation of all my doubts from PETA. I am requesting a tape of their undercover video as mentioned below.
From PETA:
Today, many students protest and educators question the destruction of life in the name of education.
People are concerned not only about taking the life of innocent animals, but also about the pain and suffering that animals usually experience on the way to the dissection table.
Dissection Hurts Animals
Animals used in the dissection industry suffer terribly before they reach the classroom. PETA’s undercover investigation of one major biological supply company exposed gross cruelty to live animals who were received and killed at the facility—even after facility officials stated that no live animals were accepted there.
Because of the video footage from the investigation, veterinarians from the U.S. Department of Agriculture testified that the company pumped formaldehyde into cats while they were still alive.
If you would like to borrow a copy of the video “Classroom Cut-Ups” to share with your professor or a member of the administration, please e-mail College@peta2.com.
Where Do They Come From?
Here in the U.S., some animals are raised specifically for dissection, while others are purchased from fur farmers and factory farmers, supporting two horrific industries that kill billions of animals and destroy the environment. Still others animals are collected by people called “bunchers,” who answer free-to-a-good home ads and pick up stray animals and companion animals who have wandered off. They have even been known to steal animals from people’s yards. If you wouldn’t kill and dismember your dog or cat, why do it to someone else’s companion?
It’s not much different in the U.K.—many schools refuse to rear or kill the animals themselves, obtaining them from specialist suppliers instead.
The breeding and killing of animals at the hands of these suppliers causes the animals unbearable stress and suffering—they’re usually raised in extremely crowded, barren cages—and their deaths are equally horrific.
In the U.K., methods of killing include the use of chloroform or ether, dislocation of the neck, suffocation with carbon dioxide, stunning, and freezing.
The Following Incidents of Cruelty Are Not Isolated
In the 1990s, animal welfare investigators uncovered cases of cruelty to animals in which cats from Mexico were being killed and trucked to the U.S. to be sold to schools for dissection. An Arizona-based company called Southwestern Scientific was one of the U.S. importers of these cats.
They were being rounded up by poor street children, who were paid $1 for every cat they caught back in 1994. The cats were then stuffed into a bag, which was plunged into a barrel of water until the animals were dead.
In 1995, authorities who raided a chicken farm in Monterrey, Mexico, found the carcasses of 800 cats who had been killed for U.S. laboratory research. The millions of animals used in classroom dissections are killed with more regard for profit than for the animals’ well-being.
Dissection Hurts Students
Animals used for dissection are often embalmed with formaldehyde or a chemical derived from formaldehyde, a preservative linked to cancers of the throat, lungs, and nasal passages, as well as a variety of other health problems.
In addition to the harmful physical effects on individuals, there are important psychological issues to consider. In his last interview before his death, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer said that his fascination with death and dismemberment began when he dissected animals at school.
I hope the blind people that have been sending the comments get the picture.
Here is a link to a PETA brochure about dissection aimed at students. It offers alternatives.
http://www.petakids.com/pdf/lanimaldisindust.pdf
From the Urban Cat Project:
Over 100,000 cats are dissected annually in U.S. high schools, and many more in Universities and Colleges across the country. Cats are one of the most frequently dissected animals in the student's laboratory.
Cats are obtained for dissection through a variety of sources including biological supply companies (who raise and kill cats specifically for dissection), and animal dealers sometimes known as Class B dealers (licensed animal brokers).
Class B dealers obtain cats through "free to a good home" ads, by stealing stray pets, and from animal shelters where such practice is allowed. Both biological supply companies and Class B dealers are notorious for animal cruelty.
.
As I have stated in many posts below, I sincerely doubt the cats were obtained from shelters. I stated the reasons.
Carolina Biological refuses to validate the claim that that is where they obtained the cats by providing contact numbers for these alleged supplying shelters.
Also, the problem of logistics of non-frozen cats made the issue of closeness to Carolina. It appears they are killed close by so they can process the cats before they decompose as would happen to day or two old cats from a shelter.
I just got confirmation of all my doubts from PETA. I am requesting a tape of their undercover video as mentioned below.
From PETA:
Today, many students protest and educators question the destruction of life in the name of education.
People are concerned not only about taking the life of innocent animals, but also about the pain and suffering that animals usually experience on the way to the dissection table.
Dissection Hurts Animals
Animals used in the dissection industry suffer terribly before they reach the classroom. PETA’s undercover investigation of one major biological supply company exposed gross cruelty to live animals who were received and killed at the facility—even after facility officials stated that no live animals were accepted there.
Because of the video footage from the investigation, veterinarians from the U.S. Department of Agriculture testified that the company pumped formaldehyde into cats while they were still alive.
If you would like to borrow a copy of the video “Classroom Cut-Ups” to share with your professor or a member of the administration, please e-mail College@peta2.com.
Where Do They Come From?
Here in the U.S., some animals are raised specifically for dissection, while others are purchased from fur farmers and factory farmers, supporting two horrific industries that kill billions of animals and destroy the environment. Still others animals are collected by people called “bunchers,” who answer free-to-a-good home ads and pick up stray animals and companion animals who have wandered off. They have even been known to steal animals from people’s yards. If you wouldn’t kill and dismember your dog or cat, why do it to someone else’s companion?
It’s not much different in the U.K.—many schools refuse to rear or kill the animals themselves, obtaining them from specialist suppliers instead.
The breeding and killing of animals at the hands of these suppliers causes the animals unbearable stress and suffering—they’re usually raised in extremely crowded, barren cages—and their deaths are equally horrific.
In the U.K., methods of killing include the use of chloroform or ether, dislocation of the neck, suffocation with carbon dioxide, stunning, and freezing.
The Following Incidents of Cruelty Are Not Isolated
In the 1990s, animal welfare investigators uncovered cases of cruelty to animals in which cats from Mexico were being killed and trucked to the U.S. to be sold to schools for dissection. An Arizona-based company called Southwestern Scientific was one of the U.S. importers of these cats.
They were being rounded up by poor street children, who were paid $1 for every cat they caught back in 1994. The cats were then stuffed into a bag, which was plunged into a barrel of water until the animals were dead.
In 1995, authorities who raided a chicken farm in Monterrey, Mexico, found the carcasses of 800 cats who had been killed for U.S. laboratory research. The millions of animals used in classroom dissections are killed with more regard for profit than for the animals’ well-being.
Dissection Hurts Students
Animals used for dissection are often embalmed with formaldehyde or a chemical derived from formaldehyde, a preservative linked to cancers of the throat, lungs, and nasal passages, as well as a variety of other health problems.
In addition to the harmful physical effects on individuals, there are important psychological issues to consider. In his last interview before his death, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer said that his fascination with death and dismemberment began when he dissected animals at school.
I hope the blind people that have been sending the comments get the picture.
Here is a link to a PETA brochure about dissection aimed at students. It offers alternatives.
http://www.petakids.com/pdf/lanimaldisindust.pdf
From the Urban Cat Project:
Over 100,000 cats are dissected annually in U.S. high schools, and many more in Universities and Colleges across the country. Cats are one of the most frequently dissected animals in the student's laboratory.
Cats are obtained for dissection through a variety of sources including biological supply companies (who raise and kill cats specifically for dissection), and animal dealers sometimes known as Class B dealers (licensed animal brokers).
Class B dealers obtain cats through "free to a good home" ads, by stealing stray pets, and from animal shelters where such practice is allowed. Both biological supply companies and Class B dealers are notorious for animal cruelty.
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Untrained Vets, Unnecessary Killing
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I get a LOT of anonymous comments calling me an idiot. I must get anywhere from 3-4 a day and some days twice that many. They come from different URL's and I cannot identify whose computers they come from. But there are many more than one person. Maybe I'll invest in the tracking software so I can identify the source of these anonymous comments.
I agree that I am an idiot, but they who send these chicken-shit comments have not read what I said.
The latest and largest set of complaints sent, maybe 15-20 or so, seem to think I am attacking vet training. These are the true idiots who have nor read what I said.
What I am attacking is the unnecessary or even illegal taking of lives.
It is obvious Carolina and the other sellers of cat cadavers are not obtaining the cats legally, or are getting them from Mexico where they are taken off the street, or homeless and feral cats from our streets here, or cats raised for the purpose of selling them for research.
When Carolina lies and says they obtained the deceased cats from public shelters that had already been killed for lack of space, and they would have been buried in a landfill otherwise, they are simply lying. They refuse to supply the names of shelters from which they allegedly get the cadavers.
And, if they get cat cadavers from the shelters, they can as easily get dog and rabbit cadavers. Apparently they don't because they do not sell them. Therefore there is a cat trade but not a dog trade. Pit bulls are killed by the thousands; healthy pit bulls.
This means the cats were not dead animals obtained from shelters, which means these were living beings unlawfully or immorally captured and killed for resale. This is both immoral and illegal.
And, if the cats are not killed at the shelters, how are they killed? Using Euthanol might cause problems of toxicity for the dissectors. Therefore, the cats may be killed by low pressure chambers, carbon dioxide or purely by smothering.
If the negative commenters do not see this they are truly blind, mentally or morally, or maybe the profiters of this illegal trade.
I also point out there are other forms of training for anatomy that does not kill animals. How many vet techs are going to be surgeons and need to actually dissect an animal? I know many vets who refuse to do surgery or dissect any animal. They only want to be internists. Also, the Pierce kids can refuse to dissect the animals and yet they graduate. Dissection is considered optional.
Therefore I question and challenge unnecessary killing, whether in shelters, or illegally or immorally.
Besides that I am appalled by the killing of animals for food. Call me an idiot for that, and I call you blind.
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I get a LOT of anonymous comments calling me an idiot. I must get anywhere from 3-4 a day and some days twice that many. They come from different URL's and I cannot identify whose computers they come from. But there are many more than one person. Maybe I'll invest in the tracking software so I can identify the source of these anonymous comments.
I agree that I am an idiot, but they who send these chicken-shit comments have not read what I said.
The latest and largest set of complaints sent, maybe 15-20 or so, seem to think I am attacking vet training. These are the true idiots who have nor read what I said.
What I am attacking is the unnecessary or even illegal taking of lives.
It is obvious Carolina and the other sellers of cat cadavers are not obtaining the cats legally, or are getting them from Mexico where they are taken off the street, or homeless and feral cats from our streets here, or cats raised for the purpose of selling them for research.
When Carolina lies and says they obtained the deceased cats from public shelters that had already been killed for lack of space, and they would have been buried in a landfill otherwise, they are simply lying. They refuse to supply the names of shelters from which they allegedly get the cadavers.
And, if they get cat cadavers from the shelters, they can as easily get dog and rabbit cadavers. Apparently they don't because they do not sell them. Therefore there is a cat trade but not a dog trade. Pit bulls are killed by the thousands; healthy pit bulls.
This means the cats were not dead animals obtained from shelters, which means these were living beings unlawfully or immorally captured and killed for resale. This is both immoral and illegal.
And, if the cats are not killed at the shelters, how are they killed? Using Euthanol might cause problems of toxicity for the dissectors. Therefore, the cats may be killed by low pressure chambers, carbon dioxide or purely by smothering.
If the negative commenters do not see this they are truly blind, mentally or morally, or maybe the profiters of this illegal trade.
I also point out there are other forms of training for anatomy that does not kill animals. How many vet techs are going to be surgeons and need to actually dissect an animal? I know many vets who refuse to do surgery or dissect any animal. They only want to be internists. Also, the Pierce kids can refuse to dissect the animals and yet they graduate. Dissection is considered optional.
Therefore I question and challenge unnecessary killing, whether in shelters, or illegally or immorally.
Besides that I am appalled by the killing of animals for food. Call me an idiot for that, and I call you blind.
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Another Source for Skinned Cats
Another source for skinned and unskinned cats is Sargeant Welch. They also offer skinned cats already dissected and mounted for your viewing pleasure.
They too do not reveal their source for cat cadavers. They too do not offer skinned dogs. However, they do recognize the ethical issues and sell a 3-D program for dissecting cats that they say is better than the real thing. Too bad Pierce does not buy a $97 demonstartion program rather than 15 skined cats for $431.
The ad:
Revolutionary 3-D virtual reality programs are changing the way science is taught. Virtual reality 3-D dissection labs offer the credibility of wet lab dissections but without the hassles.
Liquid crystal glasses electronically wired to a base system present life-like images that you and your students will try to reach out and touch! When the entire class participates in virtual reality labs, the discussions afterwards are amazing.
Virtual reality dissection labs eliminate the expense, chemicals, and ethical issues surrounding animal dissection, and are endorsed by several humane societies.
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Cats Need a Larger Voice and More Protection-II
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Can anyone doubt that cats have a lower status and less protection than dogs?
A post below shows Carolina Biological selling dissection kits containing 15 dead, skinned and embalmed cats for $431. That is $30 per cat. Can you imagine how much the company paid for each cat so with embalming, skinning and other preparation the price is $29?
It is unlikely they got them from shelters legally unless an ordinance permits it. Their claim that the cats would otherwise be buried in a landfill is not credible as euthanized cats are considered toxic waste and cannot be disposed that way.
Euthanized animals, at least in Southern California, are picked up by rendering companies after shelters like LAAS and LACCC pay them. The animals are boiled and otherwise processed and turned into various products.
It is possible that Carolina buys deceased cats from these rendering companies, but that too is unlikely due to contract restrictions by the disposing shelters.
Also, Carolina says the cats are never frozen, so they have to make it to Carolina in a short time where they are embalmed and skinned. That means the suppliers are close by or the cats are obtained elsewhere and deliberately killed for dissection purposes close to Carolina facilities.
In any event Carolina is lying about the source of their cats and they have refused multiple requests to reveal their true source by providing the names of their alleged shelter sources or contact names at those "shelters" for verification.
I requested the day before yesterday that Dr. Shapiro, head of the Pierce program, since Pierce has a business relationship with Carolina, to aid in finding this information from Carolina. So far I have heard nothing. Either he is in the process of finding this information, which I hope is the case, or he does not want to know as an act of deniable accountability. Since Dr. Shapiro teaches bioethics at Pierce, I he sees the need to be involved in this discovery process.
I would note that Carolina and one other cadaver supply company do not sell dog cadavers are all. They do not sell rabbit cadavers either. They do sell the cadavers of piglets, which are farm animals raised to be killed. Cats are not raised to be killed except in certain barbaric cultures.
Therefore, dogs are afforded more protection than cats, at least de fact, as well as legally. Dogs have to be licensed, registered, given rabies shots and leashed. None of this applies to cats.
Now do you see why I focus more on cats?
The cat kill rate at LAAS and LCACC is much higher than the dog kill rate. Actually, Winogard had almost a 100% save for cats in Ithaca, with a dog save rate of 93%.
Cats need more protection.
Cat Chop Anyone?
Dr. Shapiro at Pierce College. See all the photos under the dissection class.
http://faculty.piercecollege.edu//shapirls/Drcowsindex.html
818-710-4254 drcows@aol.com
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Can anyone doubt that cats have a lower status and less protection than dogs?
A post below shows Carolina Biological selling dissection kits containing 15 dead, skinned and embalmed cats for $431. That is $30 per cat. Can you imagine how much the company paid for each cat so with embalming, skinning and other preparation the price is $29?
It is unlikely they got them from shelters legally unless an ordinance permits it. Their claim that the cats would otherwise be buried in a landfill is not credible as euthanized cats are considered toxic waste and cannot be disposed that way.
Euthanized animals, at least in Southern California, are picked up by rendering companies after shelters like LAAS and LACCC pay them. The animals are boiled and otherwise processed and turned into various products.
It is possible that Carolina buys deceased cats from these rendering companies, but that too is unlikely due to contract restrictions by the disposing shelters.
Also, Carolina says the cats are never frozen, so they have to make it to Carolina in a short time where they are embalmed and skinned. That means the suppliers are close by or the cats are obtained elsewhere and deliberately killed for dissection purposes close to Carolina facilities.
In any event Carolina is lying about the source of their cats and they have refused multiple requests to reveal their true source by providing the names of their alleged shelter sources or contact names at those "shelters" for verification.
I requested the day before yesterday that Dr. Shapiro, head of the Pierce program, since Pierce has a business relationship with Carolina, to aid in finding this information from Carolina. So far I have heard nothing. Either he is in the process of finding this information, which I hope is the case, or he does not want to know as an act of deniable accountability. Since Dr. Shapiro teaches bioethics at Pierce, I he sees the need to be involved in this discovery process.
I would note that Carolina and one other cadaver supply company do not sell dog cadavers are all. They do not sell rabbit cadavers either. They do sell the cadavers of piglets, which are farm animals raised to be killed. Cats are not raised to be killed except in certain barbaric cultures.
Therefore, dogs are afforded more protection than cats, at least de fact, as well as legally. Dogs have to be licensed, registered, given rabies shots and leashed. None of this applies to cats.
Now do you see why I focus more on cats?
The cat kill rate at LAAS and LCACC is much higher than the dog kill rate. Actually, Winogard had almost a 100% save for cats in Ithaca, with a dog save rate of 93%.
Cats need more protection.
Cat Chop Anyone?
Dr. Shapiro at Pierce College. See all the photos under the dissection class.
http://faculty.piercecollege.edu//shapirls/Drcowsindex.html
818-710-4254 drcows@aol.com
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DNews Article on Design Screw Up at Harbor
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June 22, 2008(staff photo by sean hiller).
by Donna Littlejohn
San Pedro: coastal, always a cool breeze, right?
That's what the architects of the town's new animal shelter decided when they left out the mister cooling system that's standard fare at the city's other facilities.
But sitting through the brow-mopping, sweltering temperatures at Saturday's grand-opening ceremony for the Harbor Animal Care Center at 957 N. Gaffey St. in north San Pedro, city officials soon found out what most residents already knew:
South San Pedro - cool.
North San Pedro - hot.
A scramble is now under way to find money to install the automated system that sends sprays of cooling water into dog kennels on hot days. So how hot was it Saturday at the shelter?
By 4 p.m., it was 105 - not altogether uncommon during a heat wave in north San Pedro, where there is rarely a genuine sea breeze to be found.
"I was dying," said Theresa Sardisco, a shelter volunteer who worked from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. staffing the celebration.
And with the stainless steel used in the construction on the new kennel "cubby" areas, Sardisco said the shelter's furry guests were heating up fast.
"It gives new meaning to the term `hot dogs,"' she said.
"It was terrible," said San Pedro resident Mary Jo Walker, who attended the opening festivities. "The shelter is beautiful, but they need misters. It was so hot out by the kennels, I felt sorry for those dogs. Their tongues were just hanging out."
San Pedro's southern neighborhoods near the ocean cliffs can be downright chilly during an L.A. heat wave. But temperatures often hover around peak highs just a few miles to the north, where the shelter sits.
"It gets hot down there," Walker said. "And come October, it's going to get even hotter."
Those who designed and planned the $18.7 million facility several years ago clearly were unfamiliar with San Pedro's many climate nuances.
"The engineers said this was a beach (area) property. They didn't think they needed the misters," said Harbor shelter Capt. Daniel Pantoja. "So the misters were not part of the original plan, but now the community is coming forward to get donations and work with the department."
Indoor areas at the 2-acre shelter are all air-conditioned. Aditional canopies are being installed this week over more of the outdoor portions of kennels to offer more shade. There are also heating pads to keep animals warm during cold mornings and nights.
But after Saturday, most everyone agrees: there must be misters.
Among the special guests dabbing perspiration from his brow and wearing a long-sleeve shirt and tie was Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Ed Boks.
Boks was en route to Sacramento on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. But he has told shelter personnel he's looking into the issue and was meeting with city engineers to see what can be done.
The punishing heat on opening day was probably the best argument anyone could have made for installing misters, Pantoja said.
The high temperatures, he said, "put the exclamation point at the end" of the argument. "Everyone was saying, `Where are the misters?"'
But how fast they can be installed - and exactly how they will be paid for - is another matter.
While a city estimate put the cost of misters for the 74 dog kennels at $40,000, Sardisco thinks it can be done for far less, perhaps in the range of $7,000. She's expecting estimates from two companies she called to be returned by Friday.
It remains unclear if city funds are available. A mister system has shown up on the shelter's online "wish list" for private donations.
Community groups, including neighborhood councils, already have either donated or pledged some $4,000 to help support the shelter where city funding falls short.
But Sardisco would rather see that money go toward the center's many other needs, such as permanent dog beds for the kennels, rather than misters.
"All the new shelters have them except us," she said. "But regardless of whether the city pays for them or not, I'm going to make sure they go up."
What: Donations are needed to assist San Pedro's new shelter. Funds will pay for some or all of the costs to install a mister cooling system for the 74 dog kennels.
Where: The shelter has posted a wish list for items that can be brought to the shelter at 957 N. Gaffey St. Visit www.lacity.org/ANI/ har_carecenter_wishlist.htm.
Information: Call Theresa Sardisco, 310-386-7932.
donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com
June 22, 2008(staff photo by sean hiller).
by Donna Littlejohn
San Pedro: coastal, always a cool breeze, right?
That's what the architects of the town's new animal shelter decided when they left out the mister cooling system that's standard fare at the city's other facilities.
But sitting through the brow-mopping, sweltering temperatures at Saturday's grand-opening ceremony for the Harbor Animal Care Center at 957 N. Gaffey St. in north San Pedro, city officials soon found out what most residents already knew:
South San Pedro - cool.
North San Pedro - hot.
A scramble is now under way to find money to install the automated system that sends sprays of cooling water into dog kennels on hot days. So how hot was it Saturday at the shelter?
By 4 p.m., it was 105 - not altogether uncommon during a heat wave in north San Pedro, where there is rarely a genuine sea breeze to be found.
"I was dying," said Theresa Sardisco, a shelter volunteer who worked from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. staffing the celebration.
And with the stainless steel used in the construction on the new kennel "cubby" areas, Sardisco said the shelter's furry guests were heating up fast.
"It gives new meaning to the term `hot dogs,"' she said.
"It was terrible," said San Pedro resident Mary Jo Walker, who attended the opening festivities. "The shelter is beautiful, but they need misters. It was so hot out by the kennels, I felt sorry for those dogs. Their tongues were just hanging out."
San Pedro's southern neighborhoods near the ocean cliffs can be downright chilly during an L.A. heat wave. But temperatures often hover around peak highs just a few miles to the north, where the shelter sits.
"It gets hot down there," Walker said. "And come October, it's going to get even hotter."
Those who designed and planned the $18.7 million facility several years ago clearly were unfamiliar with San Pedro's many climate nuances.
"The engineers said this was a beach (area) property. They didn't think they needed the misters," said Harbor shelter Capt. Daniel Pantoja. "So the misters were not part of the original plan, but now the community is coming forward to get donations and work with the department."
Indoor areas at the 2-acre shelter are all air-conditioned. Aditional canopies are being installed this week over more of the outdoor portions of kennels to offer more shade. There are also heating pads to keep animals warm during cold mornings and nights.
But after Saturday, most everyone agrees: there must be misters.
Among the special guests dabbing perspiration from his brow and wearing a long-sleeve shirt and tie was Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Ed Boks.
Boks was en route to Sacramento on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. But he has told shelter personnel he's looking into the issue and was meeting with city engineers to see what can be done.
The punishing heat on opening day was probably the best argument anyone could have made for installing misters, Pantoja said.
The high temperatures, he said, "put the exclamation point at the end" of the argument. "Everyone was saying, `Where are the misters?"'
But how fast they can be installed - and exactly how they will be paid for - is another matter.
While a city estimate put the cost of misters for the 74 dog kennels at $40,000, Sardisco thinks it can be done for far less, perhaps in the range of $7,000. She's expecting estimates from two companies she called to be returned by Friday.
It remains unclear if city funds are available. A mister system has shown up on the shelter's online "wish list" for private donations.
Community groups, including neighborhood councils, already have either donated or pledged some $4,000 to help support the shelter where city funding falls short.
But Sardisco would rather see that money go toward the center's many other needs, such as permanent dog beds for the kennels, rather than misters.
"All the new shelters have them except us," she said. "But regardless of whether the city pays for them or not, I'm going to make sure they go up."
What: Donations are needed to assist San Pedro's new shelter. Funds will pay for some or all of the costs to install a mister cooling system for the 74 dog kennels.
Where: The shelter has posted a wish list for items that can be brought to the shelter at 957 N. Gaffey St. Visit www.lacity.org/ANI/ har_carecenter_wishlist.htm.
Information: Call Theresa Sardisco, 310-386-7932.
donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com
Pierce Gets Its Cat Cadavers from Carolina Biological
.
According to Dr. Shapiro, Pierce gets it cats form Carolina Biological Supplies. They told him they get the cats from cats already killed at shelters that otherwise would have gone into landfills.
There are problems here I told him as euthanized animals are usually rendered because of the euthanol in their blood rather than put into landfills, and, someone told me that public shelters cannot sell the bodies for resale. I don't know.
Anyway, here is the ad from Carolina Biological Supplies.
This kit contains 15 skinned cats for $431.
.
Cat Dissection BioKit®
Carolina's Cat Dissection BioKit® for a class of 30 students. Working in pairs, students study major organs, organ systems, and basic feline anatomy and physiology through guided dissection. Kit includes 15 Carolina's Perfect Solution plain cats, 15 plastic storage bags and waterproof student name tags, a teacher's manual with reproducible student sheets, and a highly detailed Dissection of the Cat (item# 455573) laboratory manual to use as a reference.
According to Dr. Shapiro, Pierce gets it cats form Carolina Biological Supplies. They told him they get the cats from cats already killed at shelters that otherwise would have gone into landfills.
There are problems here I told him as euthanized animals are usually rendered because of the euthanol in their blood rather than put into landfills, and, someone told me that public shelters cannot sell the bodies for resale. I don't know.
Anyway, here is the ad from Carolina Biological Supplies.
This kit contains 15 skinned cats for $431.
.
Cat Dissection BioKit®
Carolina's Cat Dissection BioKit® for a class of 30 students. Working in pairs, students study major organs, organ systems, and basic feline anatomy and physiology through guided dissection. Kit includes 15 Carolina's Perfect Solution plain cats, 15 plastic storage bags and waterproof student name tags, a teacher's manual with reproducible student sheets, and a highly detailed Dissection of the Cat (item# 455573) laboratory manual to use as a reference.
Carolina's Perfect Solution - an alternative to formaldehyde - is a revolutionary fixative that produces superior specimens while improving the safety of your classroom or lab. Tissues and organs are extremely lifelike and retain better color and texture than with other preparations.
http://www.carolina.com/category/preserved+organisms/dissection+kits/cat+dissection+kits.do
Now from all of you out there who think I am prejudiced in wanting to protect cats because they are treated worse than dogs, I would note that Pierce does not dissect dogs, only cats. AND, Carolina Biologicals do not sell dog cadavers.
Dr. Shapiro Responds
.
I wrote to Dr. Shapiro:
Thanks for the rapid response. I fully understand the need for cadavers. Everyone in the animal community is concerned about the source.
What are the USDA approved sites that you spoke of?
What are the companies involved?
Where do they get the cats? Are they ferals? Are they from Mexico as alleged and where they were obtained there, no one knows?
What is the method of euthanasia?
Has an effort beem made to aquire cats that were euthanized for medical reasons or behavioral (feral) problems?
Ed Muzika, Ph.D.
Dear Dr. Muzika:
I tried to get cats from our animal shelters (cats that are euthanized because no one wants them). I have been denied use of these animals (for political reasons). A waste of life in my opinion. At least if they have to be euthanized we should try to use them to educate others on how to save lives of our companion and other animals (my goal).
I am a strong supporter of neutering and spaying of feral cats, vaccinating them and re-releasing when possible (we have done this at Pierce). This greatly reduces the numbers of cats euthanized in our area.
Each year we try to obtain our cats at a reasonable price from one or more of the USDA approved sites. We choose these sites as we know there is government supervision in the method of obtaining the animals and their procedures used in euthanizing.
We also teach human anatomy at Pierce. For this class we use human cadavers. I have completed two post-doctoral studies in bio-ethics. At my Georgetown University study we measured the difference between numbers of students/animal used to teach anatomy. There was no significant difference between one and four students. There was significant difference after four students per cadaver. For that reason Pierce College purchases one cadaver per four students to minimize not only the cost but the numbers of animals required in teaching the necessary skills previously mentioned.
Be assured, I am an animal lover. I love cats, dogs and of course cows. I do not tolerate the mistreatment of any animals used in our program - including cadavers. Our faculty teaches modern animal welfare techniques. We constantly refine our teaching methods, our animal husbandry and our medicine to maximize the welfare of the animals under our charge.
I am off campus during the summer months. Should you have further questions, I should be returning to Pierce in September. I hope I have reassured you of our commitment to animal welfare at our institution.
Sincerely,
Dr. Leland S. Shapiro, Director
Pre-Veterinary Science Program
Professor of Animal Sciences
L.A. Pierce College
I wrote to Dr. Shapiro:
Thanks for the rapid response. I fully understand the need for cadavers. Everyone in the animal community is concerned about the source.
What are the USDA approved sites that you spoke of?
What are the companies involved?
Where do they get the cats? Are they ferals? Are they from Mexico as alleged and where they were obtained there, no one knows?
What is the method of euthanasia?
Has an effort beem made to aquire cats that were euthanized for medical reasons or behavioral (feral) problems?
Ed Muzika, Ph.D.
Dear Dr. Muzika:
I tried to get cats from our animal shelters (cats that are euthanized because no one wants them). I have been denied use of these animals (for political reasons). A waste of life in my opinion. At least if they have to be euthanized we should try to use them to educate others on how to save lives of our companion and other animals (my goal).
I am a strong supporter of neutering and spaying of feral cats, vaccinating them and re-releasing when possible (we have done this at Pierce). This greatly reduces the numbers of cats euthanized in our area.
Each year we try to obtain our cats at a reasonable price from one or more of the USDA approved sites. We choose these sites as we know there is government supervision in the method of obtaining the animals and their procedures used in euthanizing.
We also teach human anatomy at Pierce. For this class we use human cadavers. I have completed two post-doctoral studies in bio-ethics. At my Georgetown University study we measured the difference between numbers of students/animal used to teach anatomy. There was no significant difference between one and four students. There was significant difference after four students per cadaver. For that reason Pierce College purchases one cadaver per four students to minimize not only the cost but the numbers of animals required in teaching the necessary skills previously mentioned.
Be assured, I am an animal lover. I love cats, dogs and of course cows. I do not tolerate the mistreatment of any animals used in our program - including cadavers. Our faculty teaches modern animal welfare techniques. We constantly refine our teaching methods, our animal husbandry and our medicine to maximize the welfare of the animals under our charge.
I am off campus during the summer months. Should you have further questions, I should be returning to Pierce in September. I hope I have reassured you of our commitment to animal welfare at our institution.
Sincerely,
Dr. Leland S. Shapiro, Director
Pre-Veterinary Science Program
Professor of Animal Sciences
L.A. Pierce College
A Very Rapid Response From Pierce College
.
Dear Mr. Muzika:
I am sorry, I must have hit the send button before finishing my typing. I purchase our cats through USDA approved sites.
They are preserved in non-formaldehyde preservatives (usually alcohol based). Feral cats are euthanized under the direction of a USDA veterinarian.
Cats are not used just to teach the geography of the cat. For that purpose, plastic models, coloring books and computer models could and are used. The cadavers are used similarly to those used in human medicine. We teach necropsy techniques, suturing, and system by system anatomy. At all times, during the lab, complete respect for the animals being used are enforced.
It would be highly unethical to have our students practice these techniques, for the first time, on someone's pet. Thus, we try to encourage their initial mistakes on something they cannot harm - a cadaver. From this class our students proceed to either graduate veterinary schools or more advance RVT courses and work on live animals (people's pets). I hope, as a fellow animal welfarist, you understand my use of these cadavers to help produce future RVTs and veterinarians who will rely on these skills to save other animal's lives.
When I took this very class, students were required to either find "road kill" or go to the slaughter house and purchase animals there. I believe the method Pierce College currently uses in teaching this comparative animal anatomy class, maximizes the respect for the animal cadaver as well as the hands-on skills required of our students. The 138 Pierce alumni, now practicing veterinary medicine (doctors of veterinary medicine) and the thousands of RVTs who went through our program can best attest to the value of using cadavers compared with not using them.
I might also point out that several students each semester take our lecture course without the lab. These students include our horse science and general animal science students who most likely will not be required to have the surgical skills taught with the cadavers. They simply need to learn basic anatomy. When learning only the geography of the body the plastic models and pictures suffice.
I hope I have sufficiently answered your concern and questions.
Sincerely,
Dr. Leland S. Shapiro, Director
Pre-Veterinary Science Program
Professor of Animal Sciences
L.A. Pierce College
6201 Winnetka Ave. Box 202
Woodland Hills, CA 91371
Dear Mr. Muzika:
I am sorry, I must have hit the send button before finishing my typing. I purchase our cats through USDA approved sites.
They are preserved in non-formaldehyde preservatives (usually alcohol based). Feral cats are euthanized under the direction of a USDA veterinarian.
Cats are not used just to teach the geography of the cat. For that purpose, plastic models, coloring books and computer models could and are used. The cadavers are used similarly to those used in human medicine. We teach necropsy techniques, suturing, and system by system anatomy. At all times, during the lab, complete respect for the animals being used are enforced.
It would be highly unethical to have our students practice these techniques, for the first time, on someone's pet. Thus, we try to encourage their initial mistakes on something they cannot harm - a cadaver. From this class our students proceed to either graduate veterinary schools or more advance RVT courses and work on live animals (people's pets). I hope, as a fellow animal welfarist, you understand my use of these cadavers to help produce future RVTs and veterinarians who will rely on these skills to save other animal's lives.
When I took this very class, students were required to either find "road kill" or go to the slaughter house and purchase animals there. I believe the method Pierce College currently uses in teaching this comparative animal anatomy class, maximizes the respect for the animal cadaver as well as the hands-on skills required of our students. The 138 Pierce alumni, now practicing veterinary medicine (doctors of veterinary medicine) and the thousands of RVTs who went through our program can best attest to the value of using cadavers compared with not using them.
I might also point out that several students each semester take our lecture course without the lab. These students include our horse science and general animal science students who most likely will not be required to have the surgical skills taught with the cadavers. They simply need to learn basic anatomy. When learning only the geography of the body the plastic models and pictures suffice.
I hope I have sufficiently answered your concern and questions.
Sincerely,
Dr. Leland S. Shapiro, Director
Pre-Veterinary Science Program
Professor of Animal Sciences
L.A. Pierce College
6201 Winnetka Ave. Box 202
Woodland Hills, CA 91371
Pierce Vet Tech Program
.
I called the Pierce College vet tech program RVT coordinator about their cat dissection program. Her name is Elizabeth White.
She says they get the cats from a company already skinned and prepared for dissection with preservative. She does not know what company they get the cadavers from or what the origins of those cats are.
That instructor is Leeland Shapiro and his email is drcows@aol.com.
Since they also have classes in surgery, I assume they operate on live cats also and I am interested where they are coming from.
I will be contacting the instructors of these courses. I can tel you, I will not be gentle with these people.
Anyone know anything about this program?
.
I called the Pierce College vet tech program RVT coordinator about their cat dissection program. Her name is Elizabeth White.
She says they get the cats from a company already skinned and prepared for dissection with preservative. She does not know what company they get the cadavers from or what the origins of those cats are.
That instructor is Leeland Shapiro and his email is drcows@aol.com.
Since they also have classes in surgery, I assume they operate on live cats also and I am interested where they are coming from.
I will be contacting the instructors of these courses. I can tel you, I will not be gentle with these people.
Anyone know anything about this program?
.
I Am a Cat Person
.
All the time I get flooded with email from dog rescuers. It seems the only email I get with regard to animals is from dog people. I posted the Zephyr story, but you know I was much more interested in the Mason case and now the Madow because they are cat people.
Therefore, do not expect me to post dog events or need for rescues of dogs, or demonstrations mostly of dog people.
There are so many of you ought there that the kitties of the world new I voice and I am one of them.
All the time I get flooded with email from dog rescuers. It seems the only email I get with regard to animals is from dog people. I posted the Zephyr story, but you know I was much more interested in the Mason case and now the Madow because they are cat people.
Therefore, do not expect me to post dog events or need for rescues of dogs, or demonstrations mostly of dog people.
There are so many of you ought there that the kitties of the world new I voice and I am one of them.
Sen. Feinstein Supports Killing Ferals
.
About 10 days ago I emailed Sen. Feinstein, who is getting weirder and weirder for a Democrat, about my opposition to the feral cat killing bill, REPAIR (H.R. 767) She wrote in reply:
senator@feinstein.senate.gov wrote:
Dear Dr. Muzika:
Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to the "Refuge Ecology Protection, Assistance, and Immediate Response (REPAIR) Act" (H.R. 767). I appreciate the time you took to write and welcome the opportunity to respond.
On January 31, 2007, Representative Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced the REPAIR Act. This bill would establish the REPAIR Program to provide grants for the identification of harmful nonnative species and control projects to manage these species. These grants would also be used to identify restoration methods that enhance native fish, wildlife, and habitats. Further, it authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to respond to critical outbreaks of harmful nonnative species negatively impacting already threatened refuges. H.R. 767 was passed by the House of Representatives and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Like you, I believe it is important to work toward protecting the welfare of animals. Please know that I will keep your comments about the Trap-Neuter-Return method in mind should this bill, or similar legislation, come before the Senate.
Again, thank you for writing. I hope you will continue to keep in touch on matters of importance to you. Should you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841.
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein United States Senator
I WROTE THIS IN RESPONSE:
I know what the bill is about. I am saying that I oppose killing the non-native species, i.e., feral cats.
What do you mean about protecting the welfare of the animals? Do you mean protecting the welfare of feral and lost cats too?
Each year about 5% of housed cats lose their homes and become part of the outside cat population.
Do you advocate killing them?
Feinstein has never responded. That speaks tons on where she stands.
Let’s get rid of Dianne.
It is time we become politically active. Email your thoughts to her address above and ask her to clarify her thinking on the welfare of animals.
.
About 10 days ago I emailed Sen. Feinstein, who is getting weirder and weirder for a Democrat, about my opposition to the feral cat killing bill, REPAIR (H.R. 767) She wrote in reply:
senator@feinstein.senate.gov wrote:
Dear Dr. Muzika:
Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to the "Refuge Ecology Protection, Assistance, and Immediate Response (REPAIR) Act" (H.R. 767). I appreciate the time you took to write and welcome the opportunity to respond.
On January 31, 2007, Representative Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced the REPAIR Act. This bill would establish the REPAIR Program to provide grants for the identification of harmful nonnative species and control projects to manage these species. These grants would also be used to identify restoration methods that enhance native fish, wildlife, and habitats. Further, it authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to respond to critical outbreaks of harmful nonnative species negatively impacting already threatened refuges. H.R. 767 was passed by the House of Representatives and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Like you, I believe it is important to work toward protecting the welfare of animals. Please know that I will keep your comments about the Trap-Neuter-Return method in mind should this bill, or similar legislation, come before the Senate.
Again, thank you for writing. I hope you will continue to keep in touch on matters of importance to you. Should you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841.
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein United States Senator
I WROTE THIS IN RESPONSE:
I know what the bill is about. I am saying that I oppose killing the non-native species, i.e., feral cats.
What do you mean about protecting the welfare of the animals? Do you mean protecting the welfare of feral and lost cats too?
Each year about 5% of housed cats lose their homes and become part of the outside cat population.
Do you advocate killing them?
Feinstein has never responded. That speaks tons on where she stands.
Let’s get rid of Dianne.
It is time we become politically active. Email your thoughts to her address above and ask her to clarify her thinking on the welfare of animals.
.
Cats to be Hunted and Leg-Trapped Then Killed
.
This was sent to me from the Alley Cat Allies.
It is information like this that depresses the hell out of me, and makes me think that has to be a vast change and fast to the rulers who be when it comes to animals. Anyone who reads the following has to be appalled.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a cruel plan to kill all the feral cats on San Nicholas Island—that’s as many as 200—using leghold traps and hunters with dogs.
Your written feedback to the Fish and Wildlife Service is vitally needed by tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17.
“Feral cats have lived on San Nicolas Island, located off the coast of southern California, for more than 50 years. The Fish and Wildlife Service claims that removing cats from the island is necessary to restore seabird populations. However, the FWS has no evidence that cats are threatening the populations of birds and other species on San Nicolas Island.
“Worse, even if the Fish and Wildlife Service had any evidence that removing cats is necessary, the ill-advised plan does not consider the use of Trap-Neuter-Return to humanely reduce the population of cats on San Nicolas Island.
“Take Action. With your help, we hope to avert the needless suffering and cruel death of the feral cats on San Nicolas Island. Submit your written comments to the Fish and Wildlife Service requesting that they cease and desist with their cruel plan. Tell them that cats are not threatening other species on the island. Tell them that even if they could prove it would be beneficial to reduce the population of cats, Trap-Neuter-Return is the humane and effective alternative to cruel, ineffective hunting and trapping.
“Be sure to include your full name and a mailing address when submitting comments.
The deadline is Tuesday, June 17, 2008.
Sincerely,
Becky Robinson
President
http://action.alleycat.org/c.mmL3KgN3LzH/b.4203535/k.9CAC/Feral_Cats_on_San_Nicolas_Island_Urgently_Need_Your_Help/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx
The actual proposal and the kill methods:
The purpose of the Proposed Action is to restore San Nicolas Island’s seabird populations and protect other native fauna, including federally and state listed threatened species,
from population decline and potential extirpation or extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Navy propose to restore and protect these species and their habitat by eradicating feral cats from the island. The most common techniques used
globally for eradicating feral cats from islands are trapping, hunting, and poisoning. The presence of the San Nicolas island fox, however, restricts the available techniques in this
case, making poisoning infeasible. The Proposed Action is to use a combination of trapping and hunting through integrated adaptive management to eradicate feral cats from San Nicolas Island. A field study on San Nicolas Island conducted in 2006 demonstrated that padded leg-hold live traps can be used to trap feral cats effectively with minimal injury to cats and foxes. Furthermore, a trap monitoring system would minimize the time animals are held in traps prior to release (foxes) or euthanasia (cats). The USFWS and Navy propose to use padded leg-hold live trapping as the primary eradication method. Hunting with and without specialized dogs would be used strategically as a supplemental method.
The report:
http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/southwest/montrose/pdf/San_Nic_EA.pdf
.
This was sent to me from the Alley Cat Allies.
It is information like this that depresses the hell out of me, and makes me think that has to be a vast change and fast to the rulers who be when it comes to animals. Anyone who reads the following has to be appalled.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a cruel plan to kill all the feral cats on San Nicholas Island—that’s as many as 200—using leghold traps and hunters with dogs.
Your written feedback to the Fish and Wildlife Service is vitally needed by tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17.
“Feral cats have lived on San Nicolas Island, located off the coast of southern California, for more than 50 years. The Fish and Wildlife Service claims that removing cats from the island is necessary to restore seabird populations. However, the FWS has no evidence that cats are threatening the populations of birds and other species on San Nicolas Island.
“Worse, even if the Fish and Wildlife Service had any evidence that removing cats is necessary, the ill-advised plan does not consider the use of Trap-Neuter-Return to humanely reduce the population of cats on San Nicolas Island.
“Take Action. With your help, we hope to avert the needless suffering and cruel death of the feral cats on San Nicolas Island. Submit your written comments to the Fish and Wildlife Service requesting that they cease and desist with their cruel plan. Tell them that cats are not threatening other species on the island. Tell them that even if they could prove it would be beneficial to reduce the population of cats, Trap-Neuter-Return is the humane and effective alternative to cruel, ineffective hunting and trapping.
“Be sure to include your full name and a mailing address when submitting comments.
The deadline is Tuesday, June 17, 2008.
Sincerely,
Becky Robinson
President
http://action.alleycat.org/c.mmL3KgN3LzH/b.4203535/k.9CAC/Feral_Cats_on_San_Nicolas_Island_Urgently_Need_Your_Help/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx
The actual proposal and the kill methods:
The purpose of the Proposed Action is to restore San Nicolas Island’s seabird populations and protect other native fauna, including federally and state listed threatened species,
from population decline and potential extirpation or extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Navy propose to restore and protect these species and their habitat by eradicating feral cats from the island. The most common techniques used
globally for eradicating feral cats from islands are trapping, hunting, and poisoning. The presence of the San Nicolas island fox, however, restricts the available techniques in this
case, making poisoning infeasible. The Proposed Action is to use a combination of trapping and hunting through integrated adaptive management to eradicate feral cats from San Nicolas Island. A field study on San Nicolas Island conducted in 2006 demonstrated that padded leg-hold live traps can be used to trap feral cats effectively with minimal injury to cats and foxes. Furthermore, a trap monitoring system would minimize the time animals are held in traps prior to release (foxes) or euthanasia (cats). The USFWS and Navy propose to use padded leg-hold live trapping as the primary eradication method. Hunting with and without specialized dogs would be used strategically as a supplemental method.
The report:
http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/southwest/montrose/pdf/San_Nic_EA.pdf
.
Restore the $100,000 for Food!
.
Usually I just report, but I think the $100,000 cut in food is unacceptable, especially as it is the only expense item cut. I think we need to act here and let our voice be heard.
Please send emails to the people below. The first set of addresses is a direct request to the powers to be that you want the $100,000 food budget restored.
The second set of emails is to Council and the newspapers informing them that Boks/Mayor cut the food budget by 20% and that you find this unacceptable. Do they want even more animals to die in the shelter?
EMAIL THESE PEOPLE AND TELL THEM TO RESTORE THE $100,000 CUT IN FOOD FOR SHELTER ANIMALS FOR FISCAL 2008-2009. Copy and paste the addresses below to your email address line.
"Antonio Villaraigosa","Ed Boks-Private" ,"Jim Bickhart" ,"Jim Blackman" ,"Robin Kramer" ,"Rocky delgadilla" ,"Ross Pool" ross.pool@lacity.org
THEN EMAIL THESE PEOPLE BELOW AND TELL THEM THAT BOKS CUT THE FOOD BUDGET FOR SHELTER ANIMALS BY 20%, OR $100,000. THIS IS THE ONLY EXPENSE ITEM CUT. Copy and pastes this to a second email, saying how much you object to the cut.
"Carla Hall","Council Member Zine" ,councilmember.greuel@lacity.org,councilmember.greuel@lacity.org,councilmember.smith@lacity.org,"Dennis Zine" ,"Ed Reyes" ,"Editor Citybeat" ,editor@lacitybeat.com,"Eric Garcetti" ,"hahn council" ,"Herb Wesson" ,"Jack Weiss" ,"Jose Huizar" ,"Kathy Riordan" ,"Labonge" ,"Lori Golden" ,"Marcia Mayeda" ,"Richard Alarcon" ,"Rick Orlov" ,"Robert NBC Universal KNBC Kovacik" ,"Stephanie Boyles" ,"Tariq Khero" ,"Terri Macellaro"
INFORMATION TO BE SENT; SAMPLE:
Boks' new budget cuts the food budget for the animals, from $529,000 to $429,000. This is a 20% cut.
Why on earth is he cutting the food budget? There is an almost $20 million budget and he cuts food by 20%?
On page 34 of the 2008-09 budget, you will notice that food is the only expense item cut, while the "operating supplies" budget was more than tripled, from $138,000 to $453,000!
It is amazing Boks and Council would cut the animal food budget when animal food costs have so dramatically increased during the past year and a half. How would you like your food budget cut 20%?Fewer pencils, more food!.
Please restore the animals' food!
Los Angeles 2008-2009 Budget; See pages 33 and on.
http://www.lacity.org/cao/budget08-09/2008-09BlueBook-Volume1.pdf
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Usually I just report, but I think the $100,000 cut in food is unacceptable, especially as it is the only expense item cut. I think we need to act here and let our voice be heard.
Please send emails to the people below. The first set of addresses is a direct request to the powers to be that you want the $100,000 food budget restored.
The second set of emails is to Council and the newspapers informing them that Boks/Mayor cut the food budget by 20% and that you find this unacceptable. Do they want even more animals to die in the shelter?
EMAIL THESE PEOPLE AND TELL THEM TO RESTORE THE $100,000 CUT IN FOOD FOR SHELTER ANIMALS FOR FISCAL 2008-2009. Copy and paste the addresses below to your email address line.
"Antonio Villaraigosa"
THEN EMAIL THESE PEOPLE BELOW AND TELL THEM THAT BOKS CUT THE FOOD BUDGET FOR SHELTER ANIMALS BY 20%, OR $100,000. THIS IS THE ONLY EXPENSE ITEM CUT. Copy and pastes this to a second email, saying how much you object to the cut.
"Carla Hall"
INFORMATION TO BE SENT; SAMPLE:
Boks' new budget cuts the food budget for the animals, from $529,000 to $429,000. This is a 20% cut.
Why on earth is he cutting the food budget? There is an almost $20 million budget and he cuts food by 20%?
On page 34 of the 2008-09 budget, you will notice that food is the only expense item cut, while the "operating supplies" budget was more than tripled, from $138,000 to $453,000!
It is amazing Boks and Council would cut the animal food budget when animal food costs have so dramatically increased during the past year and a half. How would you like your food budget cut 20%?Fewer pencils, more food!.
Please restore the animals' food!
Los Angeles 2008-2009 Budget; See pages 33 and on.
http://www.lacity.org/cao/budget08-09/2008-09BlueBook-Volume1.pdf
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Boks Cuts Food for Animals 20%
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When Boks was in NYC, I saw an order signed by him ordering personnel to feed dry food only until it was determined the animal would not be immediately euthanized.
Keeping in the same vein, Boks' new budget proposes a 20% cut in food for the animals, from $529,000 to $429,000.
See the entire animal services budget as well as its performance over the past 6 years at:
http://www.lacity.org/cao/budget08-09/2008-09BlueBook-Volume1.pdf
Why on earth is he cutting the food budget? There is an almost $20 million budget and he cuts food by 20%?
On page 34, you will notice that food is the only expense item cut, while the "operating supplies" budget was more than tripled, from $138,000 to $453,000!
This is absurd. Will employees start buying food for the animals--I hope--to compensate?
Maybe we should all bring food to the shelters.
It is amazing that they'd cut the food budget when animal food costs have so dramatically increased during the past year and a half.
Ed, GIVE THE ANIMALS MORE FOOD!
Fewer pencils, more food!
.
.
When Boks was in NYC, I saw an order signed by him ordering personnel to feed dry food only until it was determined the animal would not be immediately euthanized.
Keeping in the same vein, Boks' new budget proposes a 20% cut in food for the animals, from $529,000 to $429,000.
See the entire animal services budget as well as its performance over the past 6 years at:
http://www.lacity.org/cao/budget08-09/2008-09BlueBook-Volume1.pdf
Why on earth is he cutting the food budget? There is an almost $20 million budget and he cuts food by 20%?
On page 34, you will notice that food is the only expense item cut, while the "operating supplies" budget was more than tripled, from $138,000 to $453,000!
This is absurd. Will employees start buying food for the animals--I hope--to compensate?
Maybe we should all bring food to the shelters.
It is amazing that they'd cut the food budget when animal food costs have so dramatically increased during the past year and a half.
Ed, GIVE THE ANIMALS MORE FOOD!
Fewer pencils, more food!
.
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ALF Torches UCLA Vivisectionist Van
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UCLA recently got a restraining order against activist groups. The upping of the ante seems to be a consequence. The following is from the ALF Press Office:
.....
UCLA Van Goes Up In Flames Animal Liberation Front Claims Action on Behalf of Tortured Primates in UCLA Labs
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Irvine: In an anonymous communiqué received today by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) claims to have set a flame a UCLA van as part of their campaign to force the university to stop torturing non-human primates in their laboratories.
The communiqué reads, in part:At the start of last week, in Irvine, CA, a van owned by UCLA went up in flames. For all of those affected you have the UCLA primate vivisection program to blame. It is unacceptable for us to see, hear, and know what is going on in our animal labs without taking action. We are driven to show the world the compassionless support that UCLA gives to these monkey killers and to do anything we can to end the needless suffering that the primates are forced to face. The end of UCLA vivisection is coming. We urge you to start switching over to non-animal protocol without haste. -LA ALF
A long-running campaign to stop the medically useless research on non-human primates at UCLA has seen peaceful and mainstream efforts such as leafleting, petitions, meeting with UCLA administration and even home demonstrations fail, as more animals die at larger expense to the public every year.
It is widely known researchers such as Edythe London, who addicts primates to nicotine and methamphetamines, continue to perform the same outmoded research for decades on end to ensure continued university funding and thus secure their academic success.
Clinical physicians seldom even bother to read such studies, which waste funds that could be used to treat patients or perform research likely to lead to cures for human ailments.
UCLA recently obtained a restraining order against a number of above-ground animal rights activists, as well as the ALF. Being a clandestine organization, the ALF is unlikely to either know or care about the restraining order. Inadvertently, in their attempts to crack down on legal, if vocal, demonstrators, the university has merely shifted the burden of activism to the underground groups such as the ALF.
Jerry W. Vlasak, MD, a press officer for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, states "It is indeed unfortunate that UCLA has been unwilling to listen to more reasonable approaches to ending the atrocities in their laboratories. Primate research will end, and if UCLA could end their own addiction to easy grant money for this fraudulent research, they could instead lead the scientific community in the legitimate pursuit of medical cures using methods of research shown to be more effective than the use of non-human animals."
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Boks Says Killing UP 31%!
Ed Boks has just told CNN that shelter killing is up 31%. Last month it was up 24%. Shelter killing is getting worse by the month.
He says there is no precedent for this "spike," then blames it on foreclosures and landlord problems.
But that does not explain the much larger increase in killing. Foreclosures and landlord-forced relinquishments have only gone up 21% by his own admission. Even then, owner turn-ins have always been less than 50% of total impounds, with the largest category being strays.
Ed did not release the numbers for impound reasons, such as stray, owner-relinquished, etc., so we don't know either. LAAS only releases outcome statistics.
If killing stays at this higher rate or increases, we may see much higher kill rates than before Boks came to LA.
Others have speculated that the real cause of the spike in intakes, is Boks refusing to take in kittens and ferals last year. These animals were never sterilized and are now reproducing.
CNN Interview:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/06/11/natpkg.pet.economy.cnn?iref=videosearch
I think Boks needs to get intake information from Mayeda and Bernstein to see if their shelter intakes are up 31% also, and if their kill rates are also up 31%. If not, Boks is in trouble.
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Video on Farm Animal Killing
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What every vegetarian knows.
Videos of farm animals being turned into food. Don't watch. Instead send the link to someone who eats meat.
http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp?gclid=CI6fveaA7pMCFScuagodYy5xWg
What every vegetarian knows.
Videos of farm animals being turned into food. Don't watch. Instead send the link to someone who eats meat.
http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp?gclid=CI6fveaA7pMCFScuagodYy5xWg
Merrit Clifton's Methodology
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Merritt Clifton wrote a long rebuttal of a Milwaukee group's estimate that there were 140,000 feral cats in Milwaukee.
His "methodology" is completely devoid of actual counting of cats and is based on many assumptions, including that feral cat numbers in Milwaukee can be calculated based on the amount of garbage in Calcutta, which he calls the filth factor.
There are lots of other assumptions and a reliance on small to smaller "studies" of unknown validity, conducted in very different locations in the US, and some as much as 50 years apart.
Merritt will assume that those same conditions exist today and can be generalized to specific other cities in all parts of the country with small, top of the head modifications.
His "logic" and assumptions are mind blowing and quite clearly demonstrate how Merritt has little contact with reality. His numbers are based on not being able to count shelter kills, or when he does not have real numbers (most of the time), he estimates what they should be; that is, he makes them up.
First I will present Merritt's treatise and then my rebuttal or his treatise.
Merritt's response was that he was not interested in my ideas, and that he has been acknowledged as THE animal population authority over the years, and, as above, claims most of the decreased shelter killing over the years is due to him.
As you can see, my comments in red are not a presentation of my ideas, but a questioning of his methodology.
He never responds to these questions. Instead, says he is right, take a look at his 30 years of writings and how he has single-handedly save miilions of animals from death. Anyone who does not accept his numbers is an ignoramous or dolt of some kind.
I can understand why many shelter managers like his methodology and numbers. The numbers make Ed Boks look good in LA and even better in NYC. They also make San Francisco city look good as well as Winograd. Marcia Mayeda comes out pretty good at about 30% better than national averages. Of course, regarding the latter, he miscalculated the number of people in Mayeda's service area, otherwise her kill/1,000 residents would climb 30%.
San Francisco really is good. LA and NYC are not.
http://www.itisnotreal.com/Clifton.htm
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Merritt Clifton wrote a long rebuttal of a Milwaukee group's estimate that there were 140,000 feral cats in Milwaukee.
His "methodology" is completely devoid of actual counting of cats and is based on many assumptions, including that feral cat numbers in Milwaukee can be calculated based on the amount of garbage in Calcutta, which he calls the filth factor.
There are lots of other assumptions and a reliance on small to smaller "studies" of unknown validity, conducted in very different locations in the US, and some as much as 50 years apart.
Merritt will assume that those same conditions exist today and can be generalized to specific other cities in all parts of the country with small, top of the head modifications.
His "logic" and assumptions are mind blowing and quite clearly demonstrate how Merritt has little contact with reality. His numbers are based on not being able to count shelter kills, or when he does not have real numbers (most of the time), he estimates what they should be; that is, he makes them up.
First I will present Merritt's treatise and then my rebuttal or his treatise.
Merritt's response was that he was not interested in my ideas, and that he has been acknowledged as THE animal population authority over the years, and, as above, claims most of the decreased shelter killing over the years is due to him.
As you can see, my comments in red are not a presentation of my ideas, but a questioning of his methodology.
He never responds to these questions. Instead, says he is right, take a look at his 30 years of writings and how he has single-handedly save miilions of animals from death. Anyone who does not accept his numbers is an ignoramous or dolt of some kind.
I can understand why many shelter managers like his methodology and numbers. The numbers make Ed Boks look good in LA and even better in NYC. They also make San Francisco city look good as well as Winograd. Marcia Mayeda comes out pretty good at about 30% better than national averages. Of course, regarding the latter, he miscalculated the number of people in Mayeda's service area, otherwise her kill/1,000 residents would climb 30%.
San Francisco really is good. LA and NYC are not.
http://www.itisnotreal.com/Clifton.htm
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