NEAVS
UPC
Karen Davis, PhD & Karla
Founder & President of United Poultry Concerns
Visit www.neavs.org or
www.upc-online.org to read Dr. Davis’
“The Experimental Use of Chickens and other Birds in
Biomedical and Agricultural Research.”
Debeaking experiments show that beak trim-
Michelle Quandt
ming causes a hen’s heart rate ‘to increase 100 beats
per minute’ and it takes her ‘from six to 10 minutes’
to recover from the infliction…. Yet, debeaking experiments continue to be done…
— Karen Davis, Ph.D.
Founder and President of UPC
Comparing pain in birds and pain in
mammals, it is clear that...there are no major
differences and therefore the ethical considerations
normally afforded to mammals should be extended
in birds.
— Michael J. Gentle, 1992
Animal Scientist
The smaller and more visually dissimilar a species is to homo sapiens,
the more the ways in which they are very similar to
us in their capacity to feel pain and suffer is forgotten.
In doing this, the delusion of our moral superiority is
shattered. A truly compassionate person extends
compassion to every living being.
— Theodora Capaldo, EdD
President, NEAVS
What you can do . . .
Write to the USDA, asking that birds be included in
the Animal Welfare Act.
! Bobby Acord, Deputy Administrator of APHIS
1400 Independence Ave. SW
Jamie Whitten Bldg., Room 312 E
Washington D.C. 20250
Tel: (202) 720-3861 Fax: (202) 720-3054
[email protected]
About NEAVS
The New England Anti-Vivisection Society
(NEAVS), founded in 1895, is dedicated to
ending animal experimentation.
NEAVS advocates for animals in laboratories,
product testing, veterinary and medical schools,
and public and private classrooms.
Contact your local university . . .
to learn whether it does research on birds and/or if it
has a breeding colony that sells birds to research. Let
NEAVS & UPC know what you find. If you are a graduate of a university, let that institution know you will withhold all contributions until bird research/breeding ends.
Join NEAVS and support our ongoing campaigns.
Visit our Web site at www.neavs.org for more
information on becoming a supporter.
Distribute copies of this brochure.
You can download a copy from our Web site at
www.neavs.org/downloads/birdbrochure.pdf.
Don’t have Web access?
Send a SASE for free copies of this flyer.
United Poultry Concerns
In their own words . . .
333 Washington Street, Suite 850
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-5100
w w w. n e a v s . o r g
No one knows
how many . . .
THE USE OF BIRDS IN AGRICULTURAL
AND BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
i n f o @n e av s. o r g
© 2002. PROVIDED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE.
A Message to People Who Care about Animals from the
NEW ENGLAND ANTI-VIVISECTION SOCIETY (NEAVS)
in collaboration with UNITED POULTRY CONCERNS
NEAVS
“What caused you to become
skeptical of your work?”
“A moral twinge.
Somehow it didn’t feel right to be cutting
off the wings of newly-hatched birds
[shown to save on feed costs]. Later
some of them couldn’t get up onto their
feet when they fell over. It wasn’t pleasant
seeing them spin around on their side
trying to get back onto their feet,
without their wings.”
— Interview of Dr. Eldon Kienholz (1928-1993),
former professor of poultry nutrition at
Colorado State University’s
Department of Animal Science
by Karen Davis, Ph.D.
One Exploiter Supplies Another
Biomedical Research
The link between the agricultural use of domestic
fowl and their use in biomedical research is close
and longstanding. Poultry production companies
offer research labs a virtually endless supply of easily replaceable test subjects. Domestic fowl—“farm”
birds—have been and continue to be widely used in
research because they are cheap, readily available
and are easily bred and managed. Birds are often
used for research because their developing
embryos can be studied, vivisected and manipulated outside the mother.
Many of the major pharmaceutical companies keep
permanent flocks of chickens and other birds in
their laboratories for testing purposes. Like other
animals, birds are being genetically modified to produce individuals or strains with certain attributes
that can be exploited for profit.
No Protection
Birds, mice and rats have been specifically excluded from coverage under the federal Animal Welfare
Act. Legislation passed in 1970 was meant to provide for their protection, but was never implemented. Language in the 2002 Farm Bill initially included
coverage for birds, mice and rats, but was stricken
from the final bill after lobbying from pro-agribusiness and pro-vivisection groups.
Impeded Instincts
Life in a laboratory can be excruciating for birds.
Like other animals, they are usually kept in deprived
conditions where they cannot nest, groom themselves, or engage in other normal behaviors...not
even the simple pleasure of spreading their wings.
Birds are social animals who are quite intelligent,
sensitive to pain and responsive to their world.
Birds are used in experiments involving drugs,
genetic engineering, diet and nutrition, sclerosis
and fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, visual impairment,
organ development and deformity, smoke inhalation, pain, aging, trans-species brain tissue
implants, sex-change and toxicology. Such experiments are funded by millions of taxpayer dollars,
often doled out by the National Institutes of Health,
the nation’s biggest funder of animal experiments.
Agricultural Research
Many experiments involving domestic fowl are related to efforts to further exploit them as meat and egg
machines. Birds are used in experiments involving
partial beak amputation, forced molting, food deprivation and starvation, heat stress, feather pulling,
genetic engineering, cloning and growth manipulation. They are also used to devise and test various
slaughtering methods.
In one study sponsored by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 250 hens were subjected to electric
shocks prior to being killed, to determine if the flesh
from their breasts would be easier to remove. Some
experiments attempt to create “featherless” birds.
Birds in Agricultural &
Biomedical Research
SUFFER
TOGETHER ...
Chickens, turkeys, ducks, quails, pigeons, crows
and other species are used in agricultural,
behavioral and biomedical research, both to study
diseases and to devise new ways of raising and
killing animals for food. Each year millions of birds
are subjected to all sorts of cruel, wasteful and
invalid research in government, university and
private corporate laboratories.
NEAVS
BIRDS of a FEATHER
Although no one really knows exactly how many
birds suffer and die in laboratories around the world,
we do know that birds, mice and rats account for
95% of the approximately 25 - 35 million animals
used in research in the United States alone.