Britches

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Britches is the name of a bear macaque that was removed from an experimental laboratory in 1985 by activists of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) during an animal liberation . The action caused a lot of media coverage. Images of Britches are particularly common in the animal liberation movement on T-shirts, patches and banners. A picture of the monkey can also be found on the cover of Keith Mann's book From Dusk 'til Dawn .

Life

Britches was born in breeding at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in March 1985 . Immediately after birth, Britches was separated from his mother and his eyelids were sewn shut. An electric sonar device was attached to his head with bandages, which was supposed to function as a guide device for the blind and emit warning sounds. Britches was to serve as an experimental animal in a three-year study that examined the behavior and development of 24 monkeys under the influence of a sensory replacement system. The knowledge gained should be transferred to humans.

On April 20, 1985, five weeks after the experiment began, ALF activists broke into the university laboratory. The ALF activists removed Britches and more than 460 other animals from the laboratory, including mice, cats, possums, pigeons, rabbits and rats.

The media coverage of the animal liberation and Britches' living conditions in the laboratory raised public criticism of the experiment, which was described as "sadistic" and "inhuman" among other things. The animal rights organization PETA published a video with the material filmed by the ALF.

The ALF's action had an impact on future research at the UCR. Due to public outrage over Britches' treatment, the studies that were interrupted by the break-in were discontinued. Since then, the eyes of infant monkeys are no longer allowed to be sewn shut at the university. Britches was released into the wild by the ALF in a sanctuary in Mexico , where he was adopted by a female monkey who had raised several orphans.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Strelow, ER; Warren, DH; Sonnier, BJ; Giant, AH; Kay, L .; Sinton, J .: Behavioral observations of sensory substitution in neonate macaques (Macaca arctoides) . In: Behavioral Neuroscience. Volume 101, Issue 5, October 1987.
  2. ↑ See also: Ingrid Newkirk: Free the Animals . New York 2000. pp. 271-294.
  3. ↑ Going to Extremes for 'Animal Rights' article in the New York Times, August 30, 1987.
  4. ↑ Elaine Yeung: UCR Gets Caught With Its Britches Down in Highlander Newspaper on March 13, 2009 - Report on Britches in the UCR student newspaper