I feel I've wandered onto the wrong side of the fence in this discussion .

I do NOT condone or approve of dogs, cats, or other critters being used as lab subjects. But I believe that practice will continue. We all need to work to try to minimize the number of animals used for these purposes.

I'd love to see an Experimental Animal Tax ~
Want to use a live animal subject in a test/experiment/trial? OK - but you PAY a nice Fat Tax to your State (for each animal used). And that Tax money should ONLY be used for animal welfare issues. Such a program *might* reduce the number of animals used in these experiments.

Dr. Neal D. Barnard, M.D., in this "Tetimony on the Use of Shelter Animals", makes some very compelling arguments - which I agree with. But the good Doctor fails to mention that all shelters & pounds are NOT humane; and all euthanasia is NOT done in a gentle, compassionate, and humane way.

And I had forgotten an important thought...
not all shelter & pound animals are homeless, never-loved street strays - some are (or were) a once-loved family pet . But that is a thought I find very difficult to accept and remember...

The thought that did run through my mind earlier is that we're talking about God's Creatures...
and I cannot believe that He can fathom our justification for euthanizing an unwanted shelter animal, and at the same instant - create, through a lab animal breeder, ANOTHER animal to be used for research purposes. In my mind, we're using TWO of God's Creatures, when only one is already one too many.
WHAT's Wrong with us humans?

Please ~ SAVE Lives ~ Spay & Neuter!

/s/ Phred