Group Raises Awareness to Plans by University of California at Santa Cruz to Destroy 120 acres of Forest for Development of Animal Testing Facility

As stated below, the facility will allow practices such as “…biotechnology, nanotechnology and invasive experimentation upon living animals (vivisection). “

There also is the environmental aspect. I’ve been to that campus and I have to agree – it is probably the most beautiful campus in the US. Just knowing that the school is even thinking of destroying the surrounding tress is disturbing

You can learn more about resistance to the Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) at UC Santa Cruz by visiting http://www.lrdpresistance.org and downloading a pdf of the first issue of the Long Range Resistance newsletter.

Article:

Tuesday Dec 25th, 2007 8:37 PM

Delivering Food to Tree-sitters at UCSC on Christmas

In 2003, the Princeton Review ranked UC Santa Cruz as having the 'most beautiful campus' in the nation. This year's rankings are in and UCSC placed 8th in the 'most beautiful campus' category for "The Best 366 Colleges: 2008 Edition."

Since November 7th, 2007, Coast Redwood trees on UCSC's Science Hill have been bases of resistance to campus expansion with students sitting on platforms situated in the crowns of numerous trees. Many students, staff and faculty at UCSC, as well as residents of Santa Cruz County, feel that UCSC's campus expansion plans are anything but beautiful. UCSC's 2005 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) includes an additional 4,500 students by 2020, the destruction of 120 acres of forest, and a Biomedical Sciences Facility engaging in controversial, corporate-driven practices such as biotechnology, nanotechnology and invasive experimentation upon living animals (vivisection).

On December 25th, I explored a little bit of the UCSC campus and stopped by the parking lot on Science Hill to see if anything was going on at the tree-sit. This contentious parking lot is located where UCSC plans to build their Biomedical Sciences Facility. The facility would be the first project under UCSC's 2005 LRDP. During my brief time on Science Hill, numerous people brought food to the tree-sitters, including Michael Urban, a professor of politics at UCSC.
Stop UCSC Expansion! Support Arrested Tree Sitters. Come to Court on January 3rd 8:30am. Bring Good Vibes.
The Biomedical Sciences facility would be the first project under UCSC's plan to develop 120 acres of forest in order to accommodate 4,500 new students by 2020. The Biomedical Sciences facility will have no allotted classroom space, despite student complaints about overcrowded class sizes. However, the facility will have room for live animal experimentation, which includes such practices as food/air deprivation, infection, and non-anesthetized surgery, according to UCSC campus guidelines.

In Defense of Animals (IDA) is a registered 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization based in San Rafael, California that states, "Our mission is to end animal exploitation, cruelty, and abuse by protecting and advocating for the rights, welfare, and habitats of animals, as well as to raise their status beyond mere property, commodities, or things." In addition to their principal website, www.idausa.org, IDA also maintains a special website called, "The Truth about Vivisection" located at www.vivisectioninfo.org. The following information about vivisection was taken from VivisectionInfo.org. Learn more by reading the Frequently Asked Questions at VivisectionInfo.org.

The Truth about Vivisection
Every year, tens of millions of animals are dissected, infected, injected, gassed, burned and blinded in hidden laboratories on college campuses and research facilities throughout the U.S. Still more animals are used to test the safety of cosmetics, household cleansers and other consumer products. These innocent primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents and other animals are used against their will as research subjects in experiments and procedures that would be considered sadistically cruel were they not conducted in the name of science.

Researchers claim that they must be allowed unfettered access to animals for experiments in order to find cures for human diseases, yet they refuse to address the serious ethical problems of torturing sentient creatures for research purposes. On top of that, over-reliance on animal experimentation has historically hindered scientific advancement and endangered human safety because results from animal research typically cannot be applied to humans. In fact, scientists could save more human lives by using humane non-animal research and testing methods that are more accurate and efficient.

For these reasons, IDA has been fighting to end the needless torture and death of animals and advance human medicine since 1983. Here are some of the major campaign victories we have achieved for animals in that time.


USDA Charges UCSF for Animal Welfare Act Violations
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) charged the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) with 89 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The USDA's action followed years of protests by IDA and other Bay Area groups to expose the cruelty secretly taking place behind the walls of UCSF's laboratories. Instead of defending themselves in court and revealing their mistreatment of animals to public scrutiny, UCSF chose to pay a $92,500 fine, one of the largest ever levied against a research institution by the USDA.

In Defense of Animals has an active campaign against Stephen Lisberger's Monkey Experiments at the University of California - San Francisco. You can learn more about the campaign by visiting: http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/lisberger.html

You can learn more about resistance to the Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) at UC Santa Cruz by visiting http://www.lrdpresistance.org and downloading a pdf of the first issue of the Long Range Resistance newsletter.