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Subscribe to RSSCAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A dehydrated squirrel monkey died at a Harvard Medical School research facility in December, the third monkey to die at the New England Primate Research Center in 19 months.
The Boston Globe reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited Harvard for failures to comply with federal animal welfare regulations, including injuries to monkeys.
William Chin, executive dean for research at Harvard Medical School, told the newspaper that the incidents are unacceptable. He said problems with management systems and implementing basic procedures were found in a review in 2010.
Chin says new leaders are addressing the issues.
Harvard and agriculture officials say the Dec. 27 death and non-fatal dehydration of a second monkey was caused by employees' failure to check a malfunctioning water dispensing system.
Another squirrel monkey’s leg was fractured in January, when it was caught under a door, according to the Boston Globe. Also, the newspaper reported that a group of rhesus macaques escaped from their pen in December, resulting in an injury to one monkey’s foot.
“They’ve had a tough stretch, and it’s certainly something that’s gotten our attention and we look forward to them correcting the situation,” David Sacks, a USDA spokesman, told the Boston Globe.
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C'mon.You know this is egghead mistakes not horrible people mishandling animals
So any faulty product, medical procedure, etc is OK as long as it wasnt delibeately planned? Malfeasance with no ill intent is A-OK?
Nah, it's Harvard. They don't deliberately mistreat their animals, they just neglect them til they die. The distinction is there, it's just hard to justify...
Perhaps the creatures weren't proper blue bloods.
They should limit medical testing to vegetable subjects. Remember what Frank Zappa said,"Call any vegetable and the chances sre good, the vegetable will respond to yoy". Beside PETA won't complain about a squash.
We know a lot of "mistakes" came from Harvard.
Maybe the monkeys are on the wrong side of the cage?
The wild, cruel animal is not behind the bars of a cage. He is in front of it.
These are just mistakes of handling not cruelty cases. This is equivalent to a dog breaking out of a fence/enclosure/ or getting out of the house. As much as we try to prevent cases such as this from happening animals are like small children they will find ways to find trouble.
The monkeys on the outside of the cages are having a hard time handling the monkeys inside the cages.
Oh the inhumanity of it all. If only Harvard had fully embraced the biodiversity of our planet they would stop this needless torturing of the lesser animals. Maybe sensitivity training is needed. And I'm sure the population of monkeys in this world deserve a heart felt apology from Harvard. Perhaps they could open a new Collage of Atonement to abrogate the wrongs they have committed.
Tell me Bill - do you refuse to take medicine, and prevent your family from taking any vaccines? Or are you one of those hypocrites who complain about how science is so cruel - but uses the outcome of this 'horrible' science?
Remember - without science and all those horrible actions, we would be still living in a cave and half of our children would be dead before the age of 10. And we would be lucky to live past the age of 40. So - if you are over 40 - you should thank science instead of posting ludite posts.
And - lastly - learn to spell. A decent education would have taught you that college is spelled with an 'e'. A collage is something completely different. So - I guess that you are another great product of the home schooling environment.
"ludite" Hmmmm. . . . flip, flip, flip . . . ludicrous, ludicrously, ludicrousness . . . nope, not in my paperback Webster's. Gonna have to go the library and look in the big fat one.
Ummm, Bubba? While you were on the internet posting about how you can't find "ludite" in your dictionary, you might possibly have checked the internet for it.
1. ludite
A person who is averse to adapting to technology.
IE: He is a ludite because he does not want to use myspace as a means of communication, in order to manage his relationships--business, or otherwise.
that would be "Luddite".....
Interested Observer- unfortunately, the vast majority of animal research is not improving anything but the researchers' chances of getting a grant or tenure. I do clinical research (people), and I see very little use of about 95% of the animals studies I read: no breakthroughs, no lives saved, just lots and lots of publications that can be used to pad a CV. Even when the animals studies are used in the development of drugs, it is pretty deplorable how poorly many of them are designed.
it's Harvard...the mentality there is that the monkey was just one of the 99% and should have started it's own company and drilled for water...
what?
cbawl, I couldn't have said it any better!
Hahvahd is an institution full of self-entitled, arrogant people. Most folks around the country think it's a bastion of liberalism when nothing could be further from the truth. The Medical, Law, Education and - especially - the Business - schools churn out graduates filled with hubris and focused on nothing but money. Those people would pull the plug on their own parents if it furthered their own careers and bank balances.
Harvard is run by a secretive "Corporation" which gobbles up land, pays its employees a pittance and treats its neighbors in Cambridge and Boston with utter contempt. This treatment of monkeys is just business as usual.
the Bob: you obviously know nothing about the institution and are fairly abrasive in your comments about the student body considering about 90% of the student body is on scholarships. The university has an excellent reputation because they do graduate the best of the best every year.
that said - their inhumane treatment of lab animals is a serious indictment of the lack of leadership and the brutality of using animals in testing of any kind.
It is truly amazing how many of you make comment about an institution that none of you ever attended, most have never seen and simply based your ridiculous comments out of petty envy and jealousy. Harvard is simply one of many outstanding universities in our country - Yale, Princeton, University of Chicago all of the military academies etc etc. You folks need to get your head out fo the sand, get a life and a job and do something constructive for a change
By the way 12 of our Presidents were graduates of Ivy league schools, 3 presidents graduated from the military academy
cbawl
Guess then your favorite Harvard grad is one of the 1% you dislike so much? There seems to be an experiment going on in our country for three years now to make us all lab monkeys who may or may not get proper medical care depending on the master whims.
Get your act together.
One of the most liberal schools in the country so for sure they deserve a pass.
And CONservative schools are on the forefront of what these days? NOTHING, except lies, deceit and hatred.
I would gladly take a Liberal ANY day over a CONservative.
Liberal Def: a : marked by generosity,
favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible,
especially as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
favoring or permitting freedom of action, especially withrespect to matters of
personal belief or expression
CONservative Def: holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in politics or religion ; or, a person who is reluctant to accept changes and new ideas..
FYI, The GOP are the ones who are constantly striving to invade every nation on earth, and every household in America as well. They the GOP want to rule with the iron fists of christiandom, with a bible in one hand and a automatic gun in the other. The GOP or Goofy Old Party want to strip away rights of certain groups of American citizens because their bible tells them so. The GOP are the ones who want to start WW3 with Iran, North Korea, China and Russia. Willard Romney, Ricky Santorum and Newton GingRICH have all stated their intents. They don't realize messing with Iran will have the aforementioned come-a-knocking on our doors. In the case of China it will be with a Billion person army and a hand out for ALL the debt we owe them!
A vote for the GOP in 2012 will be the end of America. With Santorum you'll get Judeo-Christian Sharia law, he even said so. Strict governance via the Catholic laws! Does America need that? NO!!!
420: Republicans attempt to invade every country - fascinating observation - and this assessment would be based upon your in-depth study of US history, foreign policy and the US military or perhaps its just the simply liberal left wing radicalism rant and whine from one more person that is a leach upon society that lives hand to mouth off the federal GVT dole. Lord the lunatic fringe of the left are out in force this evening lmao
They don't have any money. Like every other research institution
who cares?
Not me.
Where did you go to school? Street T.h.... U.g. U? Miami U?
Harvard is one of the best, so are most liberal colleges and Universities. COnservative schools SUCK
racist.
420: your hands typing but your mind is not engaged. Just meaningless gibberish flowing from your stiff little fingers. Perhaps if you actually took a moment to research the topic before spewing your misinformation and lies you might actually have an opportunity to present a coherent argument to support your position. Lets see graduates from the likes of Harvard, Yale, Princeton hmm both Bush's, and another liberal bastion university of California - Nixon yep you really know the topic
There's no excuse for this.
Keep the students safer or their parents will come get you. -P
I think an eye for an eye should be the rule when animals are abused.
That's it!!! I'm sending my primate to Stanford.
Jokes aside, the lab should be shut down immediately. Obviously there is no oversight to make sure these animals are treated humanely. Oh, hell, who am I kidding, treating lab animals humanely? Since when. All animal testing should be abolished. There are much better ways to test.
These monkeys insisted on fending for themselves and shunned handouts of food and drink. Unacceptable behavior at a so called "Progressive" institution.
What is it about America? We have no respect for anything living including our own kind????? It's pathetic, really most society's we've destroyed were more civilized than we are as a whole. So it will just keep going until we destroy ourselves, but the worst part is most will see this as an animal rights issue!!!!! It's not, it's a moral ethical issue of society itself. Do we exist with purpose in society? If so, what is that purpose??? I think most people could not answer that question. So what exactly has the human race become?????
Harvard's most esteemed law school graduate should apologize to the monkeys immediately. He should help them organize and file a class-action lawsuit. This should prevent future issues.