Diary of an Antivivisectionist
May 17, 2004
Dear Opponents of Animal Abuse,
In the Spring of 2002 I was thrown into the grim world of primate vivisection
and the incredibly frustrating world of being an antivivisectionist. I had just
started to learn the bare facts about animal experimentation. I stumbled across
The Primate Freedom Project website and read about a whistleblower at the Oregon
National Primate Research Center, who I would later discover to be Matt Rossell.
The overall description of the facility was extremely grim. Intrigued by an
endemic disease called "shigella" that I had never heard of, I called
the organization's headquarters for more information and spoke with Rick Bogle.
Rick's extensive knowledge on the issue of primate research was immediately
apparent. He explained to me that the disease caused monkeys to shed the lining
of their intestines, causing extreme pain and bloody diarrhea. I was appropriately
horrified at the gruesome nature of this disease and the disease-inducing laboratory
environment that primates live in. I became curious and wanted to learn more.
Rick emailed me (I still have the email) an extensive list of books that he
recommended I read. I first read The Great Ape Project and was convinced by
the philosophical and moral arguments for extending basic rights to nonhuman
primates. I continued to read, and read Deborah Blum's book The Monkey Wars
- an historical account of primate experimentation that served as an excellent
primer for learning about the world of primate vivisection.
After reading more books and papers on the minds of primates, the case for primates'
rights became even clearer to me. I asked myself: “If monkeys and apes
demonstrate mental capabilities that in many ways are parallel to small human
children, why should we they be treated so incredibly different?" And,
after reading one startling paper which showed that monkeys would rather starve
themselves for 12 days instead of hurting each other; I asked myself, "Why
should we hold ourselves to lower standards than primates hold themselves’
to?" During the summer of 2002 I made three trips that, in retrospect,
I believe firmly cemented my resolve and rage against these primate laboratories.
First, I went to Ellensburg, Washington in June 2002, to meet (then) five chimpanzees
who speak American Sign Language (ASL), a language I spoke decently at the time.
The experience of seeing members of another species communicate with each other
with a language so familiar to me was very challenging. Although I had started
to read about the intelligence of primates and had read the story of these particular
5 animals, personally witnessing such cognitive abilities was a personal epiphany
on an entirely different level. Simply put, it forced me to ask myself "What
makes humans so damned special?"
A month later, I went to Waco, Texas for debate camp at Baylor University. I
discovered some bears being used as mascots who were being forced to live in
horrid conditions. I didn't know who to turn to help me try to improve their
miserable lot.. My mom, who is an animal activist, researched the matter and
told me to call Cindy Carrocio of the Austin Zoo. Cindy had previously rescued
a bear who was formerly used and abused by Baylor University and has since became
an outspoken opponent of Baylor's use of these animals. Cindy drove from Austin
to Waco; we met at Baylor. She told me about the facility she runs and its policy
of refusing to support breeding or wild-capturing. All of the Austin Zoo's animals
are rescued. Very soon after, I made a trip to Austin myself to visit her and
her facility. It was there I met the primate victims of Daniel Casey. Daniel
Casey was a vivisector at the Oregon primate center whom I had read about online.
I remembered reading about his hideously cruel experiments on capuchin monkeys
involving tremendous physical and psychological stress.
But reading and seeing are two very different things. It is one thing to read
descriptions of atrocities or the stories of the victims, but it is a different
experience altogether to actually meet these victims. These poor individuals
were in horrible shape. One was missing a tail. Another’s tail was bent
at a conspicuously awkward 90-degree angle. One was severely frightened by every
little movement or noise. All were missing large patches of hair and some were
missing fingers and toes. It was clear they were the survivors of a holocaust.
My last trip that summer was to meet and visit Rick Bogle and his wife Lynn
Pauly. Apart from meeting two very nice people, I learned a lot about primate
vivisection. I believe it was here that I began to fathom the scope of the severity
of the situation. I also learned a lot about their past experiences in fighting
against this hideous evil. Rick told me about his seven-months-long Ape Army
tour to the (then) seven regional primate research centers in 1997 and about
the subsequent 1999 Primate Freedom Tour which carried activists around the
country.
Needless to say, Rick's past efforts were largely what inspired my beginnings
as an antivivisectionist. Then a high school senior, I developed a PowerPoint
presentation about it and spoke at high schools whenever I got the opportunity.
I made a short documentary on primate vivisection and aired it on my high school's
closed circuit television station. I devised and authored a winning high school
debate case arguing for the abolition of vivisection. In college, shortly after,
I started working against the University of Utah and their primate vivisectors.
This campaign still has many years ahead of it, but already we're seeing some
substantial legal victories that really give me hope for the potential of local
grassroots efforts.
However, while I feel I have accomplished a lot by the age of 19, there is still
much, much, more I could be doing. For animal advocates in America, all those
who are aware of the present situation have an enormous moral burden. Now that
I know that tens of thousands of creatures with mental lives so similar to my
own are being brutalized, what does this mean for me? Can I really just shrug
it off and go to movie theaters, concerts, or parties every weekend? How am
I to live in the midst of a holocaust? How should I act? Perhaps more importantly,
what should I do? These are the questions I ask myself, and these are the questions
I haven't been able to satisfactorily answer. What I've decided is that the
absolute least I can do for the primates in American labs is devote my summer
to them.
So what can I do? The situation with primates in America today is part of a
global problem. While my local activism is important, I recognize that the University
of Utah houses fewer than 100 of our nation's 100,000 captive primates. While
my friends and family members are all becoming staunch antivivisectionists,
the message needs to garner the attention of the greater public and the decision-makers.
It is for this reason that I will make a road trip, starting tomorrow, to each
of the eight national primate research centers. At each stop I will set up an
information table in front of the primate center and speak with passersby about
the horrific animal abuse occurring in each lab. It is my hope that if enough
people are educated on the issue, that eventually the ranks of dissenters will
grow and there will be a genuine movement against the policies of torture sponsored
by our federal government. It is only then that we can hope to influence these
decision makers to grant basic rights to primates and cease experimentation
on them. I fear that, if they refuse to listen and to act, that future activists
will have little choice but to turn to violence.
My schedule is as follows:
May 20th - May 26th: The Washington National Primate Reserach Center in Seattle,
WA
May 28th - June 3rd: The Oregon National Primate Research Center in Portland,
OR
June 7th - June 13th: The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center in Madison,
WI
June 17th - June 23rd: The New England National Primate Research Center in Southborough,
MA
June 28th - July 4th: The Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta,
GA
July 6th - July 11th: The Tulane National Primate Research Center in Covington,
LA
July 16th - July 21st: The Southwest National Primate Research Center in San
Antonio, TX
July 28th - August 4th: The California National Primate Research Center in Davis,
CA
I think our movement – the animal rights movement – needs a strategy.
It seems clear to me that our society’s moral and legal framework is established
in such a way that it reinforces an artificial “species barrier.”
This is the idea that basic principles or rights to be free from harm should
apply exclusively to members of the human species. This archaic notion is morally
bankrupt and responsible for the enormous suffering being inflicted by humans
on other animals for the most trivial purposes.
I think we need to pick the weakest point in this societal mindset and attack
it ideologically. It is much easier for defenders of the status quo to fall
back on ill-defined defenses of this "species barrier" when denying
rights to honeybees or to rodents than it is for defending cruelties to primates.
This is obvious; a honeybee is more alien to us than another primate is. However,
the issue of primates’ rights forces defenders of the status quo into
a corner by requiring them to delineate the characteristics that impart moral
significance to us, but not to any others. The data on the minds of primates
indicates that, in reality, there are no significant shared characteristics
of every member of the human species that set us apart from other primates.
Therefore, the only argument available to them is that we are human and they
are not. Such a position is transparently bigoted. The primate issue forces
the question: How like us need they be?
I think everyone within our movement should be working to help to ignite a national
campaign against the use of primates in experimentation and attack it with constant
fervor. I hope that my trip and the 2005 Primate Freedom Tour will prove to
be the catalyst that ignites an abolitionist movement-wide effort that will
see the first true legal rights granted to animals. If you'd like to join me
at any of these stops, or get involved in any other way please contact me at
jerm@primatefreedom.org.
I make this trip with the tremendously helpful support of the Primate Freedom
Project and In Defense of Animals.
Special Thanks to the following people (in no particular order) for everything
they've done for me and for the animals:
My parents, Steve Hindi, Lynn Pauly, Cindy & Jim Carroccio, Dr. Elliot Katz
and the IDA staff, Matt Rossell, Jean Barnes, Angie Thompson, Michael Budkie,
Eric Waters, Faith Ching, Harold Rose, Jason & Lidya Hardy, Autumn Wagner,
Mandy & Rich Hawkes, Linda J. Howard, Steve Baer, Sean/Adam Diener, Dave
Bemel, Rebecca Harrell, Kristen Coult, Seana Blake and the CHCI staff, Drs.Ray
and Jean Greek, and of course, Rick Bogle.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Beckham
2005 Primate Freedom Tour Co-Ordinator