As I am sure
you have realised the word "sacrificed"
means killed.
The Safari Cats were killed (on my reading of this document) because
these cats
were "irradiated" (subjected to radiation), which destroyed the stem
cells and these cells failed to "regenerate". This resulted in the
death of the cats. It may have been that the research required that the
stem cells be destroyed to see it they regenerated "in vivo".
Below is a
photograph
from one page of a scientific research article on a study into how
blood forming cells (hematopoietic stem cells) behave in
large animals.
The technical description is, "To study the behavior of
hematopoietic stem cells in vivo". "In vivo" means
that which takes place inside an organism.
The large animals
selected
where Safari cats.
Six safari cats were used in the research. I believe
that this image can be reproduced here as the webpage from
where it came says, "The citation, abstract, and first page are
available below".
This is the
fulll
heading:-
Behavior of
Hematopoietic Stem Cells in a Large Animal
Janis L. Abkowitz,
Monica T. Persik, Grady H. Shelton, Richard L. Ott, J. Veronika
Kiklevich, Sandra N. Catlin, Peter Guttorp
Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
Vol. 92, No. 6 (Mar. 14,
1995), pp. 2031-2035 http://links.jstor.org
The website is:-
Scholarly Journal Archive.
The web page can be seen here
No criticism is made of anyone involved. But I find this
very strange indeed. Obviously the Safari Cat has certain physical
characteristics that make her suitable for research like this.
Otherwise why use such an animal. Don't misunderstand me.
Although I am a person who leans towards the belief that any
animal testing is wrong, I do understand the benefiits and the
difficult issues posed. Why, though, should humans benefit at
the expense of the lives and welfare of our fellow creatures? It
implies thaty we are more important than other animals - are we? In
this
instance the
"Rolls
Royce" of exotic cats, the Safari Cat, is being
killed for the sake
of research.
What do you
think about that? Do you think that it makes a difference
if it is a Safari Cat or any cat - both are wrong? Say what you think
in the
forum