Help End Cruel Bat Research at Texas A&M - PLEASE WRITE!!!! Photos attached

December 9, 2008

This post may seem long, but not once you start to read it. Please, please read what is happening to these denfensless bats at Texas A & M and write and demand an end to these barbaric experiments!

E-mail addresses are under the article. Some of it is bolded and highlighted if you want to skim.

Dr. Christopher Quick,who heads this research, works for Texas A & M University in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology. Dr. Quick has been allowed to perform research on pallid bats for several years. He takes the bats from a 20 + year, known roost. As a result of the removal of so many bats, a steady decrease in the population has occurred. The experiments that are performed under Dr. Quick's care are not entirely terminal and as a result, these bats have been subjected to an unnatural environment long-term, and forced to work during the day when they should be asleep. They are exposed to up to 15 different types of drugs, alcoholand periodic painful medical procedures without sedation. They are used in experiments for up to six hours per day. Witnesses have seen the bats struggling for so long during experiments that they eventually began urinating blood due to

the stress of the experiment. The majority of Dr.Quick's literature states that the bat is placed in abox and is lightly covered with gauze during experiments. What is not explained is that the gauze is on the outside of the experiment box the bat is restrained in. The bat is made to lie on its back in an unnatural position; a plastic plate is then inserted over the bats armbone acting as an arm bridge preventing the bat from lifting its arm.

The top of the box is then closed (See attached pictures) over the bat's body and the box is screwed shut with wing nuts. The bat's wing and fingers are then forced to lie open and flat, being held in place with q-tips that are secured at the end with silly putty. Several bats have been so stressed during these experiments that they chew threw the skin on their arms and began chewing on their arm bone just to try and free themselves from the experiment box. Bats are also subjected to what is called a pressurized box.This box is used in the same fashion as the one previously described, but it is air tight. The bat is subjected to pressure on its body to create vessel dilation in the vessels of itswings (similar to a hyperbaric chamber used by humans). This experiment runs on average 4 hours.

This research has been allowed to continue despite the fact that these incidences were reported to Texas A & MUniversity's Animals Compliance Committee, who choose to turn a blindeye to what was happening behind closed doors.

It was even suggested by an Animal compliance chair member that 'if the bats were still eating and hanging upright then they must be happy'!!!

When it was requested to retire bats that have been used for more than three years, another committee chairperson responded by saying, 'how do you know the bats are unhappy in captivity, can you prove that they do not like beingpart of research?' Many pages can be filled with the concerns voiced bythose alarmed by seeing injuries the bats have received during experiments, such as, wing tears,broken fingers, and many burned wings.

Not to mention the lack of supervision and control Christopher Quick has over his lab. A large portion of the bats that currentlyremain in his captive colony at A & M have been there for over four years. They live in a room with concrete walls and meager roosts. Their only form of enrichment was being fed crickets, which they were allowed to hunt for on the ground of their enclosure, and that was stopped once the facility where the bats are housed complained about the noise and the amount of cricket's escapes.

Dr. Quick has had his lab temporarilyshut down and investigated two times so far due to valid complaints of misuse of bats and lack of supervision. Additionally, Dr. Quick was absent the majority of the first two years in his research laboratory and relied solely on his graduate students for the output ofdata for the research.

Two years ago, Dr. Quick collected 25 more bats from Valentine, Texas. While these bats were in quarantine, one of them succumbed to rabies. As a result, Dr. Quick ordered all of the remaining 24 bats euthanized, even after the CDC recommended the bats instead be spared and held in quarantine for another six months. Dr. Quick also had the option of retiring all 24 bats to Bat World Sanctuary where they would never be in close proximity to the public.

These bats were euthanized with Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in a gas chamber by Texas A & M University's Comparative Medicine Veterinarian, despite the fact that credible literature states that bats have a high tolerance to CO2 and the use of CO2 to euthanize bats is considered inhumane. One by one each bat was gassed, and then placed in a plastic zip-lock bag and placed into a frigerator to await tissue samplecollection to test for rabies. Some of the bats remained alive after being gassed and it was not known until they woke up in agony while being necropsied. After it was discovered that some of the bats were not fullydeceased, their necks were broken. Results concluded that ALL 24 of those bats were found to be negative for rabies.

This information has to be supplied to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) as part of an annual review of the current status of Christopher Quick's research bats that still remain in captivity, as well as how many have died or have been euthanized. TPWD is aware of the number of bats killed, as well as the current complaints, yet they continue to allow Christopher Quick to capture more bats every year. The wild colony in west Texas where these pallid bats roost used to be 10,000 + bats strong. Now, in large part due to Christopher Quick's continual harvesting of the colony over the last five years, there are less than 25 bats. The collection taking place today could very well wipe out the entire colony.Please feel free to forward this message to other animal rights groups. I sincerely hope that we, along with PETA, IDA, HSUS and other groups will unite and respond to this situation, ending the capture of pallid

bats to be used in this research, and force these bats that have worked for so long to finally be retired. Please write today!Christopher M. Quick, Ph.D. cquickDr. Quick's boss is Dr. Glen Laine, who is also the department head: glaine Comparative Medicine Program, is Betsy Browder: bbrowderOffice of Animal Compliance can either be addressed to the Director Dewey Kramer or Olivia Ash:animalcompliance

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SNAIL MAIL ADDRESSES for both Dr. Laine and Dr. Quick:Dr. Glen Laine/Dr. Christopher QuickTexas A & M UniversityHwy 60Department of Physiology and PharmacologyCollege Station, TX 77845Texas A & M UniversityComparative Medicine ProgramDr. Betsy BrowderAgronomy Rd.College Station, TX 77845Office of Research ComplianceAngelia Raines, Director & Olivia Ash Program Coordinator (Research Involving Animals)750 Agronomy RdGeneral Services Complex, Ste. 35011186 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3120