Sheila wrote
>You cannot promote the welfare of the animal and then send it to
>be poked and prodded by butchering scientists.
 
This is as damaging and wrong a stereotype as any out there.
 
Back in the mid 90s, ferrets were routinely butchered for rabies testing,
even if they had been vaccinated against rabies.  In Michigan alone, they
were being butchered at the average rate of one per day!  A few dozen
Marshall farm ferrets were used for careful and thorough rabies studies
conducted by scientists under the auspices of the Center for Disease
Control.  As a result of those studies, in November 1997 the CDC
recommended that ferrets involved in bite cases be treated the same as
dogs and cats, ie, quarantined for 10 days to watch for signs of disease.
THOUSANDS of ferrets lives have been saved by the sad but necessary
sacrifice of those MF ferrets.  I am glad for the research those
scientists did.
 
I had the opportunity to hear Dr Bruce Williams talk about the ECE
research he did also in the mid 90s.  After much soul-searching, he
deliberately exposed a number of ferrets (about a dozen?) to ECE, and
then euthanized and necropsied them.  He did NOT butcher them, and did
it so that he could learn as much as possible about this disease and
use it to help ferrets in the future.  I am glad for the research this
scientist, who loves ferrets as much as ANY of us, did.
 
I am well aware that the value of much animal research being done is not
as clear is these cases may be.  The world is full of gray.  But please
be careful about generalizing this research and stereotyping the people
who conduct it.
 
Linda Iroff
[Posted in FML issue 4309]