AR-News: New student fights for primates

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From: primfocus at waste.org

http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/news/2004/03/02/News/New-Student.Fights.For.Primates-623619.shtml


New student fights for primates
By Cara Wieser
Published: Tuesday, March 2, 2004

Media Credit: Bob Plumb
Kim Bowman´s primate freedom tag shows his support for the animals.


The fight isn't only between Jeremy Beckham and the U anymore.

Sophomore Kim Bowman, member of the Utah Primate Freedom Project, received
his own bill for more than $200 from the U for requesting details about one
of the marmosets housed at the Animal Resource Center.

Both students, believing such details to be public information, requested
the documentsthrough Utah's open records law under the Government Records
Access and Management Act.

Bowman is one of 30 "defenders," each a proud owner of Primate Freedom tags.
The steel tags, displayed on a necklace or key chain, have the serial
number, birth date, gender, species and location of one of the primates
living at the center.

Using the number, concerned defenders plan to request further documentation
about the treatment of their adopted friend and any experimentation being
conducted on the animal.

In a letter displayed on the project's Web site, defenders, like Bowman and
Beckham, ask the U for "all laboratory reports, protocols, daily care logs,
veterinary reports, photographs, videotapes" pertaining to the specific
primate.

However, lofty fees imposed by the U have successfully ground further
requests from the group to a halt. Beckham asked other members to hold their
letters until he has dealt with his and Bowman's fees in a legal setting.

U attorney Phyllis Vetter sent Bowman the same form letter she sent Jeremy
Beckham, charging them both for "legal review," "technical review," and
"physical redaction."

After battling Beckham in front of the State Records Committee in January,
Vetter and the U retained a right to charge a fee for copies and for
employing someone to review the documents. Beckham and other members of the
project never thought the documents would be so costly, however, and plan to
appeal the fees even if they have to take the battle back to the committee.

Vetter did not return phone calls.

By purchasing a tag for $10, each defender accepted an oath to wear the tag
to publicly display his or her outrage of primate captivity and
experimentation.

"The University of Utah and the vivisectors who they employ may consider
primates to be furry test tubes for their disposal, but we view them as
intelligent, sentient individuals with minds of their own," the oath states.
"Using primates in unconsenting experimentation is no more ethical or
appropriate than using human children."

cwieser at chronicle.utah.edu

the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. 
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."      Margaret Mead
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