A while ago I wrote about the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) using young cats to conduct animal testing experiments in order to study the parasite toxoplasmosis (see 2nd link at base of article). There was uproar because it had been going on for a long time and the cats were euthanised and incinerated after being ‘abused’ in this unethical way (the cats were killed with a ketamine injection to the heart – frightening and painful). When the federal government found out they instigated a Bill to stop the process.
It has now come to light, thanks to the Daily Mail online that the US government fed dead dogs and cats purchased in Asia and South America to these laboratory cats. These dead cats were the source of toxoplasma gondii infected meat. The researchers decided that the cat meat market was the most likely place for infected cats.
Further, we are told that some of the dead dogs and cats were purchased from the notorious Asian meat markets. The Daily Mail tell us that the US government purchased 400 dogs from Colombia, Brazil and Vietnam and over 100 cats from China and Ethiopian. The Asian cat and dog meat markets are hell on earth for domestic animals. The abuse before death dished out to these animals is scandalous.
The United States Congress have in the past condemned in a House Resolution the same Asian meat markets from which the dogs and cats were purchased.
“It’s crazy. Cannibal cats, cats eating dogs-I don’t see the logic,” former USDA scientist Jim Keen said to NBC.
The point of this article is that it was bad enough to expose the USDA’s animal testing of kittens over many years at the cost of over $600,000 to the American taxpayer, but it is compounded dramatically by the news that cats and dogs were supplied by the highly objectionable Asian cat and dog meat marketeers.
I don’t think a government agency could get it more wrong than this. There’s probably a good reason to do tests for toxoplasmosis because it is believed that over 40 million Americans carry the parasite. Although it is asymptomatic in nearly every case. But there can be severe consequences sometimes. That said, cat haters have unfairly latched onto this parasitic disease and used it as a hammer to criticise the domestic cat.
[weaver_breadcrumbs class=’alt-class’ style=’inline-style’]
[weaver_show_posts cats=”” tags=”USDA” author=”” author_id=”” single_post=”” post_type=” orderby=”date” sort=”ASC” number=”2″ show=”full” hide_title=”” hide_top_info=”” hide_bottom_info=”” show_featured_image=”” hide_featured_image=”” show_avatar=”” show_bio=”” excerpt_length=”” style=”” class=”” header=”” header_style=”” header_class=”” more_msg=”” left=0 right=0 clear=0]
