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What the Investigator Saw
Friday, May 21, 2004
"'J' said that one of the monkeys moved while he was administering the TB test and that he stuck the needle all the way through the monkey's eyeball. 'J' said that he was told by 'JM,' one of the primate techs, that this was OK and that it 'happens all the time.'"
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
"'A,' an employee I met in a training class, necropsied the rabbit. After injecting the rabbit with a euthanasia drug while she was in a full-body restraint, 'A' cut away the rabbit's hair and sliced open her abdomen. 'A' dumped out all of the rabbit's organs and inspected each for any abnormalities. After inspecting the rabbit's organs and cutting out the uterus full of live babies, she cut the rabbit's jugular vein and said that she was supposed to have done that immediately after the euthanasia injection to make sure the rabbit was dead but that she 'forgot.'"
Sunday, August 22, 2004
"One of the monkeys was the poor girl on 'T's' study with the necrotic wound on her leg. 'K' took her out of the cage and asked me to gently take hold of her leg and stretch it out. The sight of the wound was horrifying. It was at least 3 inches long, dark gray in color, and several tendons and one vein were exposed. The wound was approximately three-quarters of a centimeter deep. The vet directive called for us to give the monkey a shot of Baytril and treat the wound with antibiotic ointment. Although the monkey was in obvious pain and was suffering greatly, the directive did not call for any type of pain reliever."
Friday, August 27, 2004
"While catching one male in particular, 'J' punched the front of the cage as the monkey clung to it, making contact with the animals' fingers and toes, and then forcefully wrestled with him inside the cage, swearing at him the whole time. 'J' violently threw the animals back into their cages. How awful for this monkey to be treated this way by someone who has worked at Covance so many years (and should know better than to act like this). . . . The monkey I have previously observed biting his own arms while being restrained on the board again engaged in self-mutilation—his arms were cut open and bleeding (especially his right arm). I talked with him and tried to stroke his back and give him the tip of my glove to chew on, but he went from thrashing around to biting himself to closing his eyes as if he were ignoring everything. The fear in his face was evident, and it was appalling to watch how upset this monkey was and know that no one would do anything about it. When I informed 'T,' the head technician for the study, she simply acknowledged the fact that this poor monkey was biting himself."
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
"The worst thing about the euthanasia procedure was that it was done inside the animal room and all of the monkeys sat in their cages, wide-eyed, watching their friends go limp on the table and be dumped in black plastic bags."
Saturday, October 2, 2004
"When I entered the room where my study is located, the room had just been cleaned. All of the animals had wet hair and I saw a couple of them even shivering. The cages were drenched with water—the bottom metal grating the monkeys sit on, the walls and even their perches ... I can't imagine what it is like to be in a cage while someone is spraying a hose at you. I have seen cages being cleaned, and the poor monkeys cling to the back walls of the cages in fear. . . . One of the monkeys got loose and 'J' and 'Q' terrorized the entire room in an attempt to catch the animal—tilting cages, screaming, banging the cages into the walls etc. ... 'Q' swung one of the monkeys as high as he could and shook and jerked him around, all the while making threatening noises and faces. 'J' was so nasty—slamming the monkeys back into their cages and yelling at them while they were being dosed."
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
"Today I helped 'J' bleed the irradiated rhesus. One of the females was very sick. She sat motionless, hunched over in the back corner of her cage. She looked very pale to me, her incision site was inflamed and swollen and she did not vocalize at all while we were in the room."
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
"'K' was catching animals while I was dosing, and when he caught the first Group 1 female monkey in this study, she struggled with him and started screaming. 'K' proceeded to forcefully slam her face down to the floor (where he got a tighter grip on her), and when he brought this female to me to be dosed, I noticed that she had a large red, swollen bruise across her brow."
Monday, December 20, 2004
"I observed 'M,' one of the senior necropsy techs, using a power saw (attached to the ceiling by a cord) to decapitate a monkey after the animal had been killed. I cringed as 'M' sawed the animal's head off, and he agreed that it was pretty gruesome, but referring to the monkey's head, callously stated, 'It's served its purpose.' He went on to say that it is unusual for the animals to be beheaded but that this study requires the dissection of several parts that are most easily removed when the head has been cut off. In particular, he removed this monkey's larynx, esophagus, and pituitary gland."
Friday, January 7, 2005
"Yesterday I noted that two monkeys in quarantine had cuts on their tails that were so severe that I was able to see bone. When I pressed on one of them, pus came out. Today I assisted 'H' in amputating these animals' tails. The animals were anesthetized, then 'H' performed what she called the "flower technique," wherein she held the monkeys' tails up, sliced the skin into pieces (which I suppose make up the "flower's" petals) that were peeled back alongside the bone, amputated approximately 2 inches of bone, removed infected tissue, and sewed the skin up around the bone. 'H' complained that the surgery was not sterile and said that she could perform much better in her job if she were provided with the proper tools and equipment (the surgeries were not performed on the stainless steel table top, but rather on a sheet of cardboard). At one point 'H' talked to one of the monkeys and indicated that the animal was able to feel the surgery. She said that if the monkey continued to respond that she would do something."
Monday, January 10, 2005
"'H' and 'P' were in the room looking at a sick monkey. Group 4 female monkey #51 was hypoactive, hunched, and very thin, and her entire body—including the inside of her mouth—was covered in raised, blister-looking bumps. 'P' described them as "bloody welts."
Friday, January 14, 2005
"The sickest animal in this study, male monkey #99, continues to lose his hair, is thin, and has dry and flaking skin. He has dilated pupils, hunched posture, and is hypoactive after dosing. I have previously brought his condition to 'H's' attention, and she has told me that the client will not allow her to treat him."
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
"Group 4 female monkey #54 was the worst. Sadly, the study director, toxicologist, and clients all stood in front of her cage, staring at her as she lay on her side on the cold metal floor of her cage, her breath shallow and slow. Many of the monkeys had drool pouring out of their mouths as if they had lost control of all bodily functions. As I walked around the room and checked on the sick monkeys, several of them struggled to lift their heads an inch off of the cage floor as they stared at me with agony and pain in their eyes."
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