Action Alert

Birds, Rats, and Mice Need Your Help ASAP!

Problem: Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture has finally agreed to extend its regulatory oversight to birds, rats, and mice, the biomedical community has rallied to prevent this regulation. Researchers are lobbying Congress to stop the Department of Agriculture from covering birds, rats, and mice. Congress needs to hear from animal advocates immediately.

Please write to your two Senators and to your House Representative and tell them:

• Do not weaken the Animal Welfare Act. The Act is virtually the only legal accountability there is for animal experimenters.
  
  
• Public sentiment overwhelmingly supports the inclusion of birds, rats and mice as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's regulatory responsibilities.
  
  
• Birds, rats, and mice constitute 95 percent of the animals used in research. One reason these animals are the primary animals used is that, to date, researchers have been free to abuse these animals with impunity. This is also why birds, rats, and mice are the primary animals used in cruel student science programs. (In theory the U.S. Public Health Office is supposed to offer some sort of “protection.”)

To learn who your House Representative and Senators are, and what district you are in if you don't know, call the 24-hour Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.

For more information contact the American Anti-Vivisection Society: 215-887-0816.