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posted by chromas on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the not-so-ape-escape dept.

Four baboons briefly escaped an enclosure at a biomedical research center by repositioning a barrel:

The barrels were in the enclosure because they are used as an enrichment tool for the animals, but after Saturday's escape, the barrels have been removed from the enclosure. Three of the baboons were recaptured within 20-30 minutes of escaping. The fourth baboon returned to the enclosure on his own.

KSAT viewers sent pictures and video of a baboon running along the road.

The Texas Biomedical Research Institute has congratulated itself on its response to the incident:

This incident occurred just before our nation highlights the critical role animal caretakers play in the advancement of treatments and cures for humans on Biomedical Research Awareness Day April 19.

"The actions of the animal care and capture team taken this weekend is just one example of the strong training and preparedness of animal care workers in biomedical research." Said John Bernal, DVM, attending veterinarian at SNPRC. "Our animal capture team and the entire animal care team acted diligently and followed protocol to locate, secure and account for the baboons."

Meanwhile, PETA has brought up past instances of abuse at the facility:

One of the world's most popular animal rights groups responded to the Saturday escape of four baboons from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute's Southwest National Primate Research Center, pointing to past violations and primate deaths at the facility. Several documents provided by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals show issues discovered during inspections of the facility by inspectors with the U.S.Department of Agriculture.

From 2010 to present, the USDA has required the Texas Biomedical Research Institute to make changes to various aspects of the facility's infrastructure and care for the animals. The facility was also required to pay a fine after it was found in violation of the Animal Welfare Act in 2011.

Also at ScienceAlert, Newsweek, and the Washington Post.


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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:06AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:06AM (#668801)

    Hang on, those were chimps. As you were

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:00AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:00AM (#668824)

      They sure are smarter than humans, getting voters even.

  • (Score: 3, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:19AM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:19AM (#668807) Journal

    Why on earth would anyone cite PETA in any kind of a story? These are the people who will steal high profile animals to "rescue" them from "abuse", take the animals back to their lair, and kill the animals. I've often wondered if they perform satanic rituals as they kill the nuisance animals.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:32AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:32AM (#668811)

      Well, what did you expect from an organization calling itself "People for Eating of Tasty Animals"?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:54AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:54AM (#668838)
      And maybe one day one of them will steal an animal infected with Lassa fever, Ebola, or some other deadly disease. Hopefully the infection is localised to only those loons.
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by edIII on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:55PM

      by edIII (791) on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:55PM (#669231)

      It's hard to mark him as troll this time, when he is entirely correct. While surprising to some people, PETA believes that all animals should be freed to a natural existence. If the animal cannot....... the kindest thing to do is put it down. They don't advertise that, but it's definitely part of their ideology.

      I don't believe that is a myth either.
      At PETA’s shelter, most animals are put down. PETA calls them mercy killings. [washingtonpost.com]

      Daphna Nachminovitch, PETA’s senior vice president and head of its cruelty investigations unit, does not dispute that the vast majority of the thousands of animals in PETA custody each year are euthanized.

      PETA does put down animals all the time, which may be more humane, then the treatment the animals are receiving where they are. May be.

      I do find it kind of hypocritical, with as hard as PETA preaches to the rest of us, that they would not use their funds to put animals into sanctuaries, help with ethical animal studies, operate no kill shelters. For a place that created Sea Kittens, it does seem to be a bit heartless.

      --
      Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:37AM (2 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:37AM (#668813)

    Didn't anybody watch that movie?

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:41AM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:41AM (#668815) Journal

      Yeah, I bet they regret holding a movie night for the baboon enclosure.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @05:23AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @05:23AM (#669527)

      Makes me think of "plague dogs" more than planet of the apes.

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:07AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:07AM (#668842)

    See. Even our less-evolved cousins have figured out the cooperative thing.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:57PM (#669123)

      Good. Maybe they can figure out Congress.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:51PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:51PM (#669184)

      you should post a reading list of socialism books in order of importance to know for people without lots of time for reading books about socialism. i would like to know more about various political systems but am too lazy to try and figure out which resources are a waste of my time.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @08:54PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @08:54PM (#669301)

        Kropotkin - Mutual Aid

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @12:44AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @12:44AM (#669422)

        Have an MP player?

        Economics Professor Richard D. Wolff does a weekly hour-long broadcast|webcast called Economic Update.
        He identifies instances where Capitalism has failed and offers a Socialist perspective/alternative.
        It's not the least bit stuffy and is very accessible.
        KPFA's audio archive has a copy of every program they ever aired.

        Michael Parenti is another Socialist critic of Capitalism.
        TUC Radio's audio archive of half-hour programs has some of his work.
        Their 2018 page has several right now.

        AlternativeRadio has hour-long presentations which air on several Pacifica Radio stations.
        Those are also in their audio archives--but, with KPFT & WBAI, you have to grab them quickly because they disappear faster than the archives of some other shows; after that, AR's stuff isn't gratis any more.
        Again, KPFA has the best audio archive on the planet.
        Parenti did a really great hour for them that I heard recently.

        Eric Mann was an active member of the Communist Party and a union organizer in the auto industry among many other activist things.
        He has a weekly hour-long Pacifica Radio broadcast on KPFK called Voices from the Front Lines which is in their audio archive for several weeks.
        He talks really slow, so grabbing the MP3 and speeding it up works well for me.

        Michael Slate is a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party and his weekly hour-long KPFK program has some insights.

        All of those guys address -current- issues and advocate for organizing to change the system.
        When you boil it down, the advice is "Form your own worker-owned cooperative."
        ...and, of course, "Become politically active and oppose the further encroachment of Oligarchs."

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:18AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:18AM (#669008)

    The barrels were in the enclosure because they are used as an enrichment tool for the animals

    Legally, the baboons are not considered animals when in the care of a licensed research institute. Instead they are classed as "research organisms" so that any laws against torturing animals do not apply. Similar classes exist for "poultry" and "livestock".

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:49AM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:49AM (#669018) Journal

      Biologically (technically), they are animals, and the Institute's statement makes repeated reference to "animal care".

      I guess they recognize the potential PR blowback of referring to a "research organism retrieval team".

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:03PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:03PM (#669191)

    the world needs 13 monkeys level activists. an article in response is not satisfactory.

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