Students Promoting Animal Rights was very happy to see The State News editorial Treatment of animals shouldn’t be secretive (SN 4/16), encouraging transparency with animal treatment. Unfortunately, the editorial board made numerous factual errors.
Though it’s true SPAR accuses Royal Hanneford Circus of animal abuse, the circus does not deny being cited more than 20 times for USDA violations, nor does it deny employing elephant trainer Tim Frisco. Frisco was caught on tape beating elephants and instructing other would-be trainers to “hurt ‘em!”
The article also asserted that “using animals for experimentation won’t go away” despite multiple recent reports to the contrary. A February article in USA Today reported that a coalition of the Environmental Protection Agency, National Toxicology Program and the National Institutes of Health all signed an agreement to seek alternatives to animal testing. A panel in Europe has approved 34 alternative methods with another 170 “in its pipeline,” as opposed to a mere four by a similar U.S. panel, according to an April 12 article in The Washington Post.
The animal rights community is ecstatic to see debate on the issue of animal treatment, but the public cannot properly enforce its power with misleading information. Whether animals may be used for entertainment or testing is a welcomed debate, but Tim Frisco’s abuse, Royal Hanneford’s USDA violations and 34 alternatives to animal testing are facts, not “farfetched accusations.”
Sean Cook
psychology junior and vice president of Students Promoting Animal Rights
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