VIGIL-PROTESTS CONTINUE - SEPT 24 AT UCSF...More sad news about Dogs at UCSF

September 15, 2003

Dear Animal Advocates, Vigilers, Lovers & Liberators:

The Vigil-Protests at UCSF continue into their 6th month this year; with the

next protest scheduled for SEPTEMBER 24 (WEDNESDAY) at NOON at UCSF. Hope you

can make it! We are maintaining a consistent presence at UCSF - and that is

unprecedented. There is something invigoratingly defiant about these protests -

and I do believe we are having an impact!

[PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION TO UCSF: UCSF is located at 513 Parnassus Avenue in San

Francisco, easily reached by the N Judah streetcar (get off at Arguello, and

then walk up the hill to Parnassus) or the the 6-Parnassus bus or 43-Masonic

bus, both of which stop in front of UCSF on Parnassus Avenue.]

DOGS USED IN EXPERIMENTS AT UCSF: So that you have a little better idea why we

have good reason to protest at UCSF....In recent weeks, I have reviewed several

protocols regarding dogs used in experiments at UCSF. One protocol entails the

use of 4 dogs and 20 rabbits to study cholesterol's relation to atherosclerosis

(fat-clogged arteries). It seems to me there are plenty of humans who

voluntarily eat high-cholesterol diets and thus would better qualify for this

study than rabbits or dogs, who will be fed a high-cholesterol diet to induce

the disease. In another study, pacemakers are surgically implanted in dogs

(perhaps as many as 160 of them) to induce the symptoms of congestive heart

failure, supposedly to learn more about that disease. And in yet another study

regarding the heart, puppy dogs - no more than 3 days old - will be taken from

their mothers to surgically remove some of the nerves where the cervical spine

joins the thorax (upper chest area) - the results of which,

researchers believe, will give them a better understanding of Sudden Infant

Death Syndrome (SIDS). The researchers do allow the puppies to be returned to

their mothers after surgery - but, of course, they (the researchers) need the

mothers to nurture their young so that they may more readily recover from their

surgeries to undergo further experimenting in the days that follow - the pups

will be " sacrificed " about 2 weeks later as their hearts will be removed for

further study .

Sorry about the sad news re what's happening to dogs at UCSF, but that is why we

protesting - right!?! Hope to see you at an upcoming Vigil-Protest!

Bob O'Brien

for the Vigil

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