To Bob concerning the researchers:
 
No, I don't think you'll be starting a war here by expressing your
opinions.
 
>Besides, the way I see it, perhaps after reading this list awhile, the research
>groups may begin to appreciate ferrets for all their queer ferret qualities, as
>we do, and decide on their own not to kill them at the end of an experiment, or
>even to cease using them.  But I don't understand how we can help lab ferrets
>by begrudging these researchers access to a ferret-sympathetic community.
 
 
 
Unfortunately, Bob, I don't think that this will happen.  Any
information AALAS (Amer. Acad. of Lab Anim. Science) gains here will be used to
make the ferret a more useful laboratory species, not the other way around.
 
You have to stand up for what you believe in. I stand up for animals who
have no say as to what is done to them. I speak from experience with the
research community (for those who would dismiss my comments).  I have long
realized that in this arena, funding is more important than the toll in animal
lives.
 
The only way that we can turn the tide is to say NO.  Recently I was
asked to give a presentation on diseases of the ferret at the 1994 Pathology of
Laboratory Animals Course in Washington D.C. This is a fairly high-profile
course in my field - great exposure, looks good on a resume, etc.  But I have
turned them down, because in presenting a lecture at this conference, I am
giving tacit approval to the use of ferrets as lab animals.
 
I'm no rabid anti-research activist.  I feel that in some cases, animal
research is necessary.  But most of the research that I have seen does not rate
the death of even a single animal, or what is worse: pain, isolation, and
discomfort.  It will not stop on its own; nor go away if we ignore it.
 
I simply cannot approve of the infliction on a helpless animal anything which I
would not wish to bear myself.
 
Bruce Williams
(202) 576-2454
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[Posted in FML issue 0737]