Support alternatives to vivisection & protest about R&R breaking the law – again!

Immediate, please sign the following two messages:

• 1. Petition to the FDA About Alternatives to Animal Testing
• 
  
• 2. R&R Research is a Repeat Violator of the AWA (For US friends only.)

BACKGROUND

1. Petition to the FDA About Alternatives to Animal Testing

PCRM needs your help! We want to demonstrate to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that there are many thousands of people who support alternatives to animal testing. Initially we set a goal of collecting 50,000 petitions to deliver to the FDA—thanks to our members and supporters who took action we have exceeded that number. Every name represents one more reason for the FDA to promote nonanimal testing methods to save human and animal lives. Act now and sign PCRM’s petition!

Please complete the petition by filling out the form HERE. This message urges the FDA to sanction alternatives to animal testing.

2. R&R Research is a Repeat Violator of the AWA For US friends only.

AAVS has renewed its call for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to revoke the license of R&R Research, a random source Class B dealer that has repeatedly violated the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), legislation designed to protect lost or stolen pets from becoming research subjects. Random source Class B dealers are animal brokers that obtain dogs and cats from shelters and others, and then sell them to research and education facilities, and they are only permitted to obtain animals from licensed dealers or individuals with animals who are born and raised on their property. This creates a paper trail that demonstrates legal acquisition of animals as well as mode to find a lost dog or cat. However, in July, R&R was cited for illegally acquiring a dog. According to a USDA inspection report, R&R obtained the animal from a person who “acquired the dog at six weeks of age from an individual…who was giving [it] away.”

This is the 6th time that R&R Research has violated this section of the AWA! There is no excuse for letting them flout the law continually.

The USDA is charged by Congress to uphold the integrity of the AWA, yet it has failed to penalize R&R for its repeated, blatant animal welfare violations. In September, the Government of Accountability Office (GAO) conducted an audit of USDA’s oversight of random source Class B dealers like R&R (below, too) , and concluded that USDA is failing to adequately monitor the activities of these animal brokers. GAO revealed that seven of nine Class B dealers have had one or more AWA violations, and that record keeping was at times so poor that 16% of original sources for animals could not be confirmed and 13% of tracebacks from 2009 remain incomplete, despite the fact that they should occur within 30 days of dealer inspection.

Further implicating random source Class B dealers, last year, the National Academies Institute for Laboratory Animal Research acknowledged concern over their controversial reputation, and stated that dogs and cats from such dealers are not necessary for federally funded research.

Would It Make a Difference?  It Would To Them …

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This mountain of evidence demonstrates the need to: 1) enforce the law and shut down R&R Research and 2) elimate all other random source Class B dealers, as called for in the Pet Safety and Protection Act (H.R. 3907 & S. 1834), a long-awaited bill that will plug the supply line from shelters to these dealers. Continuing to spend valuable USDA inspection resources on random source Class B dealers is a waste of taxpayer money has not helped to protect the dogs and cats who continue to suffer at these facilities.

What you can do!

Please use the form HERE to contact Chester Gipson, DVM, the Deputy Administrator of Animal Care at USDA, and ask that the agency immediately revoke R&R Research’s Class B dealer license. Remind USDA that R&R has repeatedly committed serious AWA violations.

Also, please contact your Senators and Representative and urge them to spare America’s dogs and cats from a life in research laboratories by supporting the Pet Safety and Protection Act (H.R. 3907 & S. 1834), legislation that would ban random source Class B dealers. To take action, go to www.aavs.org/PetSafety.

Determining whether a company or product is or is not tested on animals is easy! Simply type in the name of the company or product in the search bar and press Search.

Or, click on the bunny for another search format.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• DISSECTION / TESTING

• GAO Report: September, ’10

oh world of science
and researched famed
so many animals
tortured and maimed
there are alternatives
that should be explored
so please leave alone
all the animals
we so adore!!!!!

Karen Lyons Kalmenson