Stricter Oversight Ordered for Animal Research at Nebraska Center; New York Times, 3/9/15

Michael Moss, New York Times; Stricter Oversight Ordered for Animal Research at Nebraska Center:

"A federal animal-research center in Nebraska will not be allowed to start any new experimental projects until it strengthens its procedures and internal oversight, the secretary of agriculture, Tom Vilsack, said Monday.

The decision came as a report ordered by Mr. Vilsack found that an oversight panel at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, in Clay Center, Neb., “was not adequately fulfilling its intended role” of scrutinizing experiments to ensure that they minimized pain and suffering for the animals. The report, however, said that during a three-day visit to the center in February, an investigating committee found no evidence of animal mistreatment. “Without exception,” it said, “the panel observed health and well cared-for animals.”

The report was prompted by a Jan. 19 article in The New York Times that raised concerns about the treatment of farm animals at the center, a 50-year-old unit of the Agriculture Department that aids the meat industry by developing livestock that are more productive and profitable. Interviews and internal records revealed that experiments and everyday handling of animals at the center have often resulted in illness, pain and premature death, and that the center lacked the careful oversight that many universities and meat producers have exercised over their own research.

Since the article was published, several members of Congress from both parties have pushed a bill to extend the federal Animal Welfare Act to shield cows, pigs, sheep and other animals used for agricultural research at federal facilities like the Nebraska center. The law, enacted in 1966, excluded those animals, focusing largely on cats and dogs used in laboratory research. Some animal-rights groups have urged that the center be closed."

Rights Group Is Seeking Status of ‘Legal Person’ for Captive Chimpanzee; New York Times, 12/2/13

James Gorman, New York Times; Rights Group Is Seeking Status of ‘Legal Person’ for Captive Chimpanzee: "The Nonhuman Rights Project has been working on this legal strategy for years, sifting through decisions in all 50 states to find one that is strong on what is called common law, and one that recognizes animals as legal persons for the purpose of being the beneficiary of a trust. The leader of the project, Steven M. Wise, who has written about the history of habeas corpus writs in the fight against human slavery and who views the crusade for animal rights as a lifelong project, said New York fit the bill... Laurence H. Tribe, a professor at Harvard Law School, said in an email that in seeking rights for nonhuman animals, “The classic writ of habeas corpus is as good a place to begin as any.”... Chimps were granted certain legal rights by the Spanish Parliament in 2008, and sporadic efforts in other countries, like India, have had some successes."