Dear      :

Please add my voice to those who are opposed to shelters that are involved with the practice of "pound seizure" -- selling unclaimed shelter animals to research facilities.

According to the IDA Stolen Companion Animal Program, when a shelter sells its homeless animals, statistics point to an increase in the theft of dogs and cats. This is due to a profit motive to sell animals. While many pound workers are ethical and hard working, the temptation to sell animals by the back door for quick cash is an all too familiar reality across our country.

No one can be certain their own beloved companion will never fall into the hands of researchers as long as animals from pounds are allowed to be sold to researchers. A lost or stolen pet may not be located or rescued in time to prevent this tragedy.

Estimates of the number of animals tortured and killed annually in US laboratories diverge widely -- from 17 to 70 million animals. The majority of dogs and cats used in experiments come from breeders, animal shelters and pounds, and organized "bunchers" who pick up strays, purchase litters from unsuspecting people who allow their companion animals to become pregnant, obtain animals from "Free to a Good Home" advertisements, or trap and steal the animals.

Enormous physiological variations exist among rats, rabbits, dogs, pigs, and human beings. A 1989 study to determine the carcinogenicity of fluoride illustrated this fact. Approximately 520 rats and 520 mice were given daily doses of the mineral for two years. Not one mouse was adversely affected by the fluoride, but the rats experienced health problems including cancer of the mouth and bone. As test data cannot accurately be extrapolated from a mouse to a rat, it can't be argued that data can accurately be extrapolated from either species to a human.

In many cases, animal studies do not just hurt animals and waste money; they harm and kill people, too. The drugs thalidomide, Zomax, and DES were all tested on animals and judged safe but had devastating consequences for the humans who used them. A General Accounting Office report, released in May 1990, found that more than half of the prescription drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration between 1976 and 1985 caused side effects that were serious enough to cause the drugs to be withdrawn from the market or relabeled. All of these drugs had been tested on animals.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine reports that sophisticated non-animal research methods are more accurate, less expensive, and less time-consuming than traditional animal-based research methods. Patients waiting for helpful drugs and treatments could be spared years of suffering if companies and government agencies would implement the efficient alternatives to animal studies.

This practice of experimenting on animals encourages animal users not to venture into more humane teaching and testing methods, and it puts already traumatized shelter animals through more pain, suffering, and distress before they are killed in the laboratory.

Pound seizure can also result in a loss of revenue for many reasons. Where there is public awareness that impounded animals will be sold for research, public trust is tarnished. People abandon animals in the county which creates more work for animal control personnel, adds to the formation of dog packs and the destruction of other animals. Pound seizure actually increases the cost of tax-supported animal control.

For all of the above reasons, I strongly urge you to immediately ban the sale of homeless and abandoned animals to research facilities.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing your decision.

Sincerely,

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