SHAC EXPOSES THE JAPANESE RESEARCH INDUSTRY

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SHAC EXPOSES THE JAPANESE RESEARCH INDUSTRY

 

In early March 2002 three activists from the

newly-formed SHAC Japan flew out of Heathrow airport

with one purpose:

 

TO EXPOSE THE JAPANESE ANIMAL RESEARCH INDUSTRY

BECAUSE OF THEIR LINKS WITH THE SCANDALOUS LABORATORY

HUNTINGDON LIFE SCIENCES.

 

The account that follows is by one of the

investigators.

 

When we arrived in Japan we hit the ground running. We

knew where we were going and where we intended to gain

access to and nothing was going to stop us.

 

By the end of our stay in Japan we had seen a wide

variety of animals used for experiments. These

included primates, beagles and cross-breed dogs,

rabbits, goats, pigs, mice and rats. Every one of

these animals has its own story to tell. Once you have

looked them in the eyes you never forget them. The

faces of some of the animals I saw will haunt me

forever. Their pitiful lives were so horrific that

when I think of them everything else pales into

insignificance. The whole of the industry has the

blood of these animals on their hands.

 

Some of these animals were unfortunate enough to be

held at Kansai University near Osaka. This building

was directly opposite the local hospital and linked by

walkways and corridors. We gained access past the

security and made for the basement area where our

research had told us the animals were kept. We could

clearly smell the stench of animal waste and

laboratory cleaning fluids. On entry we were

approached by a doctor wearing a white lab coat and

mask. Here was the first test of our cover story which

worked perfectly. He showed us around one primate

facility happily believing us to be from Huntingdon

Life Sciences, happily explaining what experiments he

was carrying out. The primates were being used in bone

marrow experiments. He stated that he had been to

Huntingdon and their facilities and the experiments he

had seen were similar to the ones at Osaka. The bank

of cages housed terrified, sad and totally broken

cynomulgus monkeys, which had been imported from

Vietnam. Some constantly spun in circles around their

tiny barren cages, picking frantically at their

already hairless bodies. Others were so terrified they

tried to hide in the far corner of their cages. They

were frozen with fear.

 

At the end of one of these rooms was a monkey much

larger than the others. She was sitting very still

staring blankly into space. We were told by the doctor

that she was over 7 years old. They had stopped using

her for experiments and had decided to keep her just

for a laugh. He laughed in her face to tell her how

fat and stupid she was. The doctor decided to show us

the method they use for crushing the monkeys in order

to administer drugs. He turned to the 7 year old

monkey and yanked the two handles on either side of

her cage towards him. This brought metal bars at the

back of her cage into her back until she was crushed

against the front.She screamed a high-pitched

terrified scream. He laughed as he released her

telling her to shut up “ Or her guests would take her

back to Huntingdon.”

 

She was returned to her previous statue-like state.

Although her head was bowed I could see a single tear

falling from her left eye.

 

The doctor then tried to hurry us from the room but I

managed to go back to see her one more time. I felt as

though I somehow wanted to tell her that the person

standing next to the doctor while she was being

crushed was not the real me. As I was leaning in

towards her cage she suddenly reached out and plucked

a single hair from my head. She quickly retreated to

the back of her cage, engrossed with this new thing of

interest which she was now manically twisting around

her fingers. I didn’t know whether to feel better or

worse: better because she now actually had something

to do, her routine and boredom was broken even if just

for a few minutes and worse, because I could see then

how desperately sad her life was, it had been for 7

years and would be until she died.

 

I left that room feeling totally heartbroken but

nothing could prepare me for what was in the next

room. The cages that contained animals were all

free-standing and in two rows on the floor in the

center and the right hand side of the room. These

primates were much larger than the cynomulgus monkeys.

The cages were much taller but primates were still

barely able to stand straight.

 

In one cage there was a large primate. I was horrified

when I saw his head. A large metal plate had been

bolted onto his skull. The whole device was inches

thick and was surrounded by a thick pinkish -looking

cement at its base. This monkey could not move as

freely as the other one. It was continually gently

picking at the base of the metal implant and shaking

his head from side to side obviously in great

discomfort. The weight of this device seemed to cause

him to hunch forward. He peered at us from the back

and through the top of his cage with huge worried

eyes.

 

As we were leaving I noticed another cage in the far

corner of the room. This primate also had a metal

device attached to his head but he hid in the dark

towards the back of the cage. His arm was outstretched

though, his hand was through the bars of the door of

his cage and he was twisting and turning the padlock

on his door.

 

At Kyoto Furitu University, we found a mixture of

animals in a large semi open farm type building. This

building was in semi-darkness and stunk of urine and

faeces. Along the far wall were about 6 cages. These

contained fully-grown goats. Towards the centre of the

room were 4 more cages containing large pigs, at the

back and side of the room was another goat and one

huge pig. All the animals had large screw -like

devices protruding from their sides. When I looked

closely I could see that the devices screwed extremely

tightly and therefore digging deeply into the animals’

flesh. All of these implants were thickly caked in

dirt. These devices can be unscrewed to reveal a tube

leading directly into the stomach. Along the building

opposite there were 3 or 4 beagles chained to kennels.

These continually paced in small circles, occasionally

stopping to look at us with their tails firmly down

between their legs. As I approached one he slumped

against the wall shaking with fear, his head was hung

low and he was unable to look at me. He urinated with

fear while I was there. Others attempted to bark, but

were unable to do so, as they had been de-vocalised.

Inside we found pigs in a similar condition. These

must have been recently fitted as the wounds were

still fresh - they were red, sore and weeping. The

animals were in a great deal of pain.

 

At Juntendo University in Tokyo I found myself being

shocked to a new level all over again. We knew from

our reconnaissance trip in January that this facility

was found on the roof, surrounded by neighbouring

tower blocks and again opposite a large hospital. We

had also spent days in January keeping the security

under surveillance and this proved invaluable when it

came to neutralizing it. There was one row of kennels

on the roof which housed cross -bred dogs. These were

all ex-pets, brought from the Hokenso, the Japanese

equivalent to a dog pound. They were all chained to

the wall of their concrete kennel. The back of the

kennel was in total darkness. This is where all the

dogs could be found. All I could see was clumps of fur

and faeces everywhere. At the back I could only see a

pair of eyes peering out at me. We eventually managed

to get a couple of these dogs to come to the front of

the kennel. They were emaciated. Their fur was either

totally matted or hanging out in clumps. Worse still

when they tried to bark at us nothing happened except

for a tiny hoarse croak. They had all been

devocalised.

 

In the very end kennel was one lone goat. It was so

large it filled the whole space it lived in. Again the

floor was filthy.

 

Opposite the row of kennels was a separate unit that

was purpose built to house animals. This building

could be accessed from within the medical schools

fifth floor. We were stopped by security but after

showing him all the identification we had in the name

of HLS and Huntingdon security passes he was so

convinced that he even showed us to the right part of

the building. We showed yet again that with enough

determination we can access anywhere. Whilst making

our way through the fifth floor we came across a group

of medical students. Far from backing off we were by

now so confident that we could access any Japanese

research facility that we decided to engage them in

conversation explaining that we were from Huntingdon

Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire, England. Several of

them looked a bit confused and went on to explain that

from the Japanese media they thought Huntingdon had

closed. We thought not yet mate but they will. We

parted from them and made our way into our target

area. This building was basically split into three

rooms. The central room contained an operating table

and equipment. The two rooms at the back of this room

contained dogs.

 

The first room we entered had a bank of cages on

either side. These had a bottom and a top row. The

cages at the top of one side all contained young

beagle puppies. All were undergoing experiments. Most

of them had an incision in the top of their heads,

which was stitched together but left a hole big enough

to hold a 4 inch long metal 'probe'. I don’t know what

the purpose of this probe was but it had obviously

been inserted deeply into the animals’ heads. The

protruding part was awkward and uncomfortable for the

dogs. As they were spinning and jumping around they

would catch it on the cage bars. This would cause them

to cry in pain as the skin was ripped slightly around

the probe.

 

Some of the beagles had large areas shaved on their

backs. In the centre of their backs was a large bloody

scar. These beagles were so young but their entire

bodies were hunched up, their back legs were unable to

take their weight properly. They looked as if they

were being slowly crippled. They found it difficult to

stand up on the uncomfortable floors. They were

slipping and looked rather dazed and clumsy. I

realized that these dogs were still puppies and

remarkably some of them still had a playfulness in

them. I knew that they had probably never played and

certainly never would. Their short lives would

probably soon be over and they would have known

nothing but the life in these cages

 

On the opposite side to these beagles were mostly

cross-bred dogs. At the end of the top row was what

can only be described as a scrap of life. This small

brown dog was shaking uncontrollably from head to toe.

He was petrified by humans. He was so thin that every

rib showed through his patchy rough skin. He was

frozen still in a hunched position, staring at us with

the most terrified eyes I have ever seen in my life.

Due to his fear he was unable to control his bowels

and sat in his own fresh faeces. I could see that

under his chin was a wire protruding out. This was

similar to the beagles opposite but maybe smaller.

 

I could not take my eyes away from this dog for a long

time. I wanted to help him so much but holding my

hands out to him, talking to him and just looking at

him was only terrifying him.

 

The next room was much bigger and again full of dogs.

One in particular caught my eye because she reminded

me of a friend’s dog. She was quite big with a

beautiful face and long white fur. Her nose was

sticking out of a gap in the bars of her cage door,

her black eyes almost catatonic. All the fur around

her head and neck was hanging down in long dreadlocks.

She shook constantly from side to side. This was not

out of fear but was due to what must have been a

mental disorder. I asked myself if this had been

inflicted upon her or had she simply gone mad as a

result of her life in that place. She looked old; she

showed no spark, no reactions, no sign of life was

left. The Japanese research industry had taken

everything away from her.

 

At Osaka Furitu University we were interested in a

separate building at the far corner of the vast

university site. Along the outside of this building

were large open pens. These were covered in faeces and

urine. At the back of these pens were double cages

that were old and rusty. A fully-grown beagle was in

each side, the floors of the cages buckling under

their weight. One of these dogs was heavily pregnant,

the other continually circled around her tiny cage

panting from the heat of the sun. These cages were

tiny and barren, no thought had been given to the

animals most basic needs. Inside this building were

rows of even smaller rusty cages.

On the other side of this building was an internal

area where we found a large room with banks of cages

on either side. One beagle looked so old; his eyes

were watering, his tongue was hanging out, he was

twitching and shaking continually and seemed to have

difficulty even moving his head from side to side. He

showed no emotion when he saw us, he just stayed in

this sad state.

 

In a cage nearby to this one was a truly disturbing

sight. A mother had obviously given birth to her pups

in this cage and then they had been left. Now the

puppies were nearly fully grown - no-one had bothered

to move them to their own cage but had decided to

leave them to share the same cage as the others. There

were about seven dogs in this cage, all of them

scrambled at the door when they saw us, pushing their

noses through the mesh door, all fighting for just a

little bit of space and attention. This cage was

exactly the same size as the other cages that held

just one dog. We decided to keep this unit under

surveillance and kept it under constant watch from

Friday morning until we left the following Monday

afternoon. In that whole time not one person came to

check that the animals were all right. Any one of them

could have become ill and would have been left to rot.

 

 

Osaka University was on the grounds of Osaka Hospital

and Osaka Medical University. Near the main road

running through the grounds we found a large brick

building with a wire mesh roof. Inside were large pens

which housed primates of all ages, some looked newly

born. Their mothers held their babies close when they

saw us and hurried away to hide.

When we investigated the small building next to this

one we understood why these animals were so

frightened. We gained entry to this building by a side

window that was left open. Inside were mainly

computers, monitors and files. From our extensive

research we had learned this department was carrying

out nerve damage research and were likely to have

videoed it. One of us stayed outside in constant radio

contact with the other two inside. After searching the

building for over two hours we managed to locate the

tapes with animals names and numbers on them. We

decided to borrow these tapes in order to tape them.

Once this was done all the tapes were returned. We

discovered the tapes were recordings of experiments

with a wide range of animals including large primates,

squirrel monkeys and a wallaby. These animals were

fitted with many devices that seemed to monitor their

heart rate. Some of the animals had much larger

devices attached to their backs. These had wires

protruding out of large metal squares that could be

seen underneath the bandages which held everything in

place.

 

The experiments always took the form of the animal

being forced to walk along the floor or climb up a

horizontal or diagonal scaffolding pipe. Out of the

hours and hours of video footage we watched we

witnessed every animal being used being abused by its

‘handler’. One large primate was aggressively kicked

and then hit repeatedly in the face when he refused to

be dragged any further. The fact that he was cowering

on the floor made no difference to his abuser. Others

were swung in the air by their leads and dragged along

the floor while they remained totally frozen with

fear.

 

The psychological damage to all they animals was

obvious. They underwent hours of repeated experiments

and were treated with no respect at all. We can see by

the dates on the tapes that these experiments have

been continuing for years. The animals at this

university are bred in one building then taken to the

next building to undergo possibly years of experiments

and then they are killed.

 

Pictures are available at the URL above.

 

THE MESSAGE IS VERY SIMPLE AND CLEAR.

 

IF YOU AS AN INDUSTRY DEALING WITH HUNTINGDON LIFE

SCIENCES THEN WE WILL RESEARCH YOU, KEEP YOU UNDER

SURVEILLANCE AND THEN ENTER YOUR PREMISES TAKING WITH

US EVERYTHING THAT YOU CONSIDER TO BE SECRET.

 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

 

SEVER YOUR LINKS WITH HUNTINGDON LIFE SCIENCES BEFORE

YOUR SECRETS BECOME PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE

 

 

 

 

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