The University of Louisiana at New Iberia Primate Research Story

[NewsCopy]

 NEW IBERIA - For the most part, the stretch of Admiral Doyle Drive just off of La. 182 looks just like other major rural roads in Acadiana.

But just beyond the homes and the large offices of oil and gas companies lies a 100-acre site filled with laboratories, indoor and outdoor animal housing and hundreds of chimpanzees, monkeys and other primates - UL's New Iberia Research Center.

By no means is the facility the only one that conducts biomedical research on primates or other animals. The nonprofit Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care has given its seal of approval to more than 770 companies, universities, hospitals and other institutions that conduct such research, which often includes testing medications before human trials to determine their possible effects.

The NIRC is one of those accredited facilities.

What sets NIRC apart from other institutions is its sheer size - more than 200,000 square feet of laboratory and animal facilities, 10 different species of primates and more than 6,000 animals.

That size alone was enough for the Humane Society of the United States to launch a nine-month undercover investigation there in late 2007,

The rest of the story

Amanda McElfresh • amcelfresh@theadvertiser.com • March 8, 2009

[4LSU]

Hopefully, all the posturing, from both sides, is over now and the federal agency in-charge of monitoring the system can investigate the charges and share their findings. Any findings that clear the center probably will not make national TV, but that's the world we live it and for discussion another day.

[CajunFun]

_ Nice article, Joe.

Z _

Thanks, Dude.

One of the things that really gets me mad about this... they say that they investigated NIRC because it's the largest. I don't think that's why.

I think it's the opposite

I think they were looking for the "smallest" guy they could find, namely us. You think they would have tried this with Tulane, Texas, or Emory?

That's alright. It's a good chance for us to see how how good Savoie is at bourée.

[Zeebart21]

_ Thanks, Dude.

One of the things that really gets me mad about this... they say that they investigated NIRC because it's the largest. I don't think that's why.

I think it's the opposite

I think they were looking for the "smallest" guy they could find, namely us. You think they would have tried this with Tulane, Texas, or Emory?

That's alright. It's a good chance for us to see how how good Savoie is at bourée. _

So far looks like Doc S has played his cards right.

Appreciate you calling Kate about last night. Sorry she had other plans. Please remember her in the future.

Z

[CajunFun]

_ So far looks like Doc S has played his cards right.

Appreciate you calling Kate about last night. Sorry she had other plans. Please remember her in the future.

Z _

No problem. We'll call her, she's a sweetie.

[cajun4life]

_ Well... *blush*... I'm a tree-hugging nature freak.

But I'm also clear that people come before animals. And I also support prudent hunting, because the alternative-- starvation-- is worse.

I love animals. But sometimes you just have to choose between the lesser of two evils. _

I agree with the prudent hunting as well, Fun. My uncle owns a 4000 acre ranch in Del Rio, Texas and he is required by the state of Texas to harvest nearly 200 deer per year in order to keep the balence in check. I spoke to his ranch manager about such a high number to harvest and he informed me that the alternative was much worse and less humaine. Before they we enrolled in the program they would lose 200-300 deer per year to blue tongue or anthrax.

Hunting is the humane alternative.

[Tripple Threat]

_ Nice article Doc. Them damn tree hugging nature freaks who never get out of their offices or houses. _

I know where you're coming from when you say "tree huggers", b/c I've seen the extreme ones. There are some non extreme "tree huggers" out there though...

I've been to NIRC a handful of times, have met and interviewed with professors (I had thought about working there at one time), and personally know some of the professors and techs. There are some "tree huggers" working at NIRC, the ones I know of are in behavioral sciences and work very hard to make sure the quality of life for the primates is constantly at the best level. These folks working at NIRC, the one I know, care very much about the mental and physical health of the primates. The chimps are there for a reason and I can see how some may be concerned, but they are cared for pretty intensely. All that being said, any trace of abuse would be a killer for all the work being done...obviously.

I can't keep from thinking about the opening scene from "28 Days Later"..."They're infected with Rage!"

[CajunFun]

_ I agree with the prudent hunting as well, Fun. My uncle owns a 4000 acre ranch in Del Rio, Texas and he is required by the state of Texas to harvest nearly 200 deer per year in order to keep the balence in check. I spoke to his ranch manager about such a high number to harvest and he informed me that the alternative was much worse and less humaine. Before they we enrolled in the program they would lose 200-300 deer per year to blue tongue or anthrax.

Hunting is the humane alternative. _

They also die of starvation. There was a place in New England where they outlawed deer hunting. They had also eliminated all the wolves. In a couple of years, the deer were moving out into the city.

Because they were hungry.

A naturalist who walked through the wood nearby said it was like a clean, vibrant city, filled with many people...

...but no children. The only thing that had survived were the grown trees. The deer had stripped the forest of all brush, seedlings & saplings.

And they were starving. I work in a subset of ecology; populations need predators, either macro- or micro-predators (disease and parasites). If they don't face predation, they face starvation, and the population crashes.

[CajunNation]

They also die of starvation. There was a place in New England where they outlawed deer hunting. They had also eliminated all the wolves. In a couple of years, the deer were moving out into the city.

Because they were hungry.

A naturalist who walked through the wood nearby said it was like a clean, vibrant city, filled with many people...

...but no children. The only thing that had survived were the grown trees. The deer had stripped the forest of all brush, seedlings & saplings.

And they were starving. I work in a subset of ecology; populations need predators, either macro- or micro-predators (disease and parasites). If they don't face predation, they face starvation, and the population crashes.

http://www.michaelcrichton.com/speech-complexity.html





This link is in my signature. I thought I would highlight it here because Dr. Crichton covered this in a very effective manner.

It's in my signature because I think as many people need to read these words as possible.

[CajunFun]

_ Nice article, Joe.

Z _

BTW, someone at NIRC emailed me, said the article had a "huge" reception with the Center's partners.

It must have gone through almost all of the animal research labs... either that, or the HSUS supporters were going over to read it. For two days, it octupled our traffic on ultoday.com.