Monkey Business; the Founding of Peta, and the Silver Spring Monkey Case
The Silver Spring Monkey Case which involves the mistreatment of monkeys in The Institute for Behavioral Research started People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) turned out to be one of the biggest, most profitable, and fast growing animal rights groups. PETA and its founder Alex Pacheco attracted the public’s attention with the Silver Spring Monkey Case and the reaction of the public and other animal right’s associations started an animal rights revolution.
Alex Pacheco was cofounder to PETA and is a national leader in the Animal rights movement. (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 2) Pacheco first got into animal rights on a trip to the slaughterhouse which left him “shaken.” Soon after that he joined Sea Shepherd, an animal rights group that fights against the unnecessary and inhuman slaughter of sea animals, and he also fought for animal rights in England (Pacheco, 1). When Pacheco was in college he got a volunteering opportunity at the Institute for Behavioral Research (IBR) in Silver Spring Maryland, and while he was there he uncovered the monstrosities of the institute and of animal testing and started the famous sliver spring monkey case. During his work in the laboratory he uncovered animal cruelty toward the monkeys in the lab. He alerted the police which resulted in the first police raid of a laboratory of its kind. (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 2)
Edward Taub was the chief animal experimenter at IBR. (Francione, 72) Edward Taub did not have any medical training, although, his laboratory was still funded federally. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) Taub was testing the monkeys to see the possibility of human stroke victims regaining use of their limbs. Taub created an animal “model” of limb atrophy by a surgical procedure called somatosensory deafferentation which involved severing all the nerves so all sensation to the monkeys’ limbs were eliminated. (Francione, 72) Then Taub would perform experiments to see if the
Alex Pacheco was cofounder to PETA and is a national leader in the Animal rights movement. (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 2) Pacheco first got into animal rights on a trip to the slaughterhouse which left him “shaken.” Soon after that he joined Sea Shepherd, an animal rights group that fights against the unnecessary and inhuman slaughter of sea animals, and he also fought for animal rights in England (Pacheco, 1). When Pacheco was in college he got a volunteering opportunity at the Institute for Behavioral Research (IBR) in Silver Spring Maryland, and while he was there he uncovered the monstrosities of the institute and of animal testing and started the famous sliver spring monkey case. During his work in the laboratory he uncovered animal cruelty toward the monkeys in the lab. He alerted the police which resulted in the first police raid of a laboratory of its kind. (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 2)
Edward Taub was the chief animal experimenter at IBR. (Francione, 72) Edward Taub did not have any medical training, although, his laboratory was still funded federally. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) Taub was testing the monkeys to see the possibility of human stroke victims regaining use of their limbs. Taub created an animal “model” of limb atrophy by a surgical procedure called somatosensory deafferentation which involved severing all the nerves so all sensation to the monkeys’ limbs were eliminated. (Francione, 72) Then Taub would perform experiments to see if the
Bibliography: Francione, Gary Lawrence, and William Moses Kunstler. "Standing: Animals as Private Property." Animals, Property and the Law. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1995. 72-78. Print. Guither, Harold D. "Chronology of The Silver Spring Monkeys." Animal Rights: History and Scope of a Radical Social Movement. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1998. 216-17. Print.