Congressman wants answers from USDA on cats allegedly killed during government research

edition.cnn.com ^ | May 9, 2018 | Juana Summers

[Berlin_Freeper]

A Republican lawmaker wants answers from the Department of Agriculture about taxpayer-funded research experiments at a Maryland facility that have allegedly led to the deaths of hundreds of cats and kittens.

Citing documents reviewed by his office, Michigan Republican Mike Bishop described a decades-old research project at the USDA's Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, in which hundreds of kittens are bred, fed meat that is infected with Toxoplasma, and later killed and discarded by "incineration."

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue dated Monday, Bishop wrote that he was "shocked to hear that the USDA, the very organization set out to enforce animal welfare laws and regulations, was treating the life of animals with such contempt."

[WASCWatch]

I love our two cats, but not the least bit bothered by this.

Somehow, there are lots of people who think nothing of human abortion, but using cats for research is horrible.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

"And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it,
and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and
over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Yes some animals die in research. That is the price of progress.
 

[Berlin_Freeper]

Up to half of the world's population is infected by toxoplasmosis but have no symptoms.[7] In the United States about 23% are affected[10] and in some areas of the world this is up to 95%.

[Flick Lives]

Citing documents reviewed by his office, Michigan Republican Mike Bishop described a decades-old research project at the USDA's Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, in which hundreds of kittens are bred, fed meat that is infected with Toxoplasma, and later killed and discarded by "incineration."

This is outrageous; killing kittens for some medical experiment. Can't we use lawyers?

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

When my kitty lies down on my chest and kneads her paws and purrs, helps me believe in God! What wonderful little beings!

[Boomer]

The solution is obvious. Use leftists for those experiments. No one will miss them or care.

May I suggest the leftist politicians be used first then the leftists in the deep state; or visa versa. Either way is okay with me.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Does anyone know the life span of a feral cat? Not very long, I would think.

But I guess that is our fault somehow.

[joethedrummer]

She wants answers regarding the death of CATS???

Congresslady, how about you give ME answers about where obama and SOS Hillary were while HUMANS were being attacked for HOURS before being killed in Benghazi, HMMMMMMMMM???

[Moonman62]

There’s was a time when high school students dissected cats in biology class.

[ifinnegan]

Exactly.

[Flaming Conservative]

All the millions of stray cats and kittens that are euthanized may as well be put to good use for something. I had a patient once who had two or three cats, which, of course, had one litter after another. Most of them sort of disappeared, but they kept a few of them around to start the cycle all over again. I informed her that there was a free spay and neuter program in town. “Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to do that. I love my little kitties”, was her reply.

[niteowl77]

A short drive from where I grew up, there was a facility that used cats for product testing, and it was widely assumed that any given missing cat had made the trip to the lab. I don’t recall anyone getting worked up about testing on animals, but that was small-town Iowa in the 1960’s.

[DarthVader]

It is so true and they are so smart.

[familyop]

The pestilence perpetuates itself and the disease that it carries by affecting its human hosts.

Toxoplasmosis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis

“Crazy cat-lady syndrome”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#%22Crazy_cat-lady_syndrome%22

Notable cases
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Notable_cases

Schizophrenia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Schizophrenia

Traffic accidents
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Traffic_accidents

Toxoplasmic chorioretinitis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmic_chorioretinitis

Some of us have seen more than one schizophrenic who went to crazy extents against other human beings to protect a multitude of cats. And those schizophrenics are not all women.

[familyop]

I’ve seen cats survive without human help at over 8,000 feet elevation at near 40 degrees latitude in a relatively sterile (semi-arid) environment (temps as low as minus-30s, F or C).

[buckalfa]

It is a shame the Congress critter does not take the same umbrage against abortion.

[Silentgypsy]

You appreciate the finer things in life!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[piasa]

“Decades old research” project... the problem with it is that being a government project, it’ll never conclude with a solution because a solution would end a department of SIEU union members’ life-long project. Mustn’t have that- some congressman needs to keep money flowing into his district for eternal research, and some other congressman is probably getting kickbacks from the feed and equipment suppliers. The government lab will keep the meatgrinders going long after some private corporation or research really does find a preventative or a cure- because government projects have a life of their own.

Government is by nature inefficient, callous, wasteful, and bureaucratic. People who work for government do so largely because their skills aren’t up to snuff in the marketplace, or the demand for their particular specialty doesn’t exist in the marketplace.
Waste, laziness and affirmative action’s a bad combination when they get to handle living creatures. How much worse is it when they aren’t allowed to even discuss the religious concept of good stewardship in these facilities?