350 HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 
Another unidentified dog had a wound in his neck — pus appeared on the 
surface of the wound and a thin plastic tube stuck out of it. There was no paper 
sack in his cage for a resting place. 
Another room contained a few mice, some hamsters, and about 10 rabbits. All 
of the rabbits had runny noses and only three of them had identification on 
their cages (the names of the patients). Some of the others had some very old 
looking signs saying “Female” or “Male,” but nothing further. 
When we left the animal quarters we went with the director to his office. 
He told us that he would have resting boards made and installed in the dogs’ 
cages. He also said he would install a new door to replace the one with the holes 
in it. He also said he would order new food dishes for the dogs. 
The director also told us that he had twice closed the animal laboratory 
because their facilities were inadequate. He had reopened it at the request of 
the chief pathologist. 
We left there with hopeful hearts that the improvements would be made as 
promised. 
VISIT, MONDAY, JULY 23, 1962 
On this visit I was escorted by one of the pathologists of the hospital. 
The room where the short-term dogs are housed still had the big cracks in 
the concrete floor, the broken-down door had not been replaced, the promised 
resting boards had not been installed, nor were the recommended paper sacks 
covering the mesh bottoms of the cages. The chewed-up food dishes were still 
stacked on a table (only more chewed-up than ever) although we did see some 
new food dishes. The long billowy strands of fur had been removed from the 
two cages, but the other cages did not show any signs of a recent cleaning . 
One of the dogs in this room was extremely thin. He was in one of the lower 
tier cages and the cage was soaking wet. The dog was damp and very dirty and 
was wearing a heavy leather collar intended for a dog four times his size. The 
collar was so encrusted with dirt and fur that it could not be removed unless 
it were cutoff. Th dog was a cocker spaniel type dog and his long ears had 
balls of fur the size of an egg hanging from them. I called the pathologist’s 
attention to this dog and expressed the hope that such a thin dog would not be 
used for surgery. The pathologist hastened to assure me that the dog would 
not be used for surgery in such an emaciated condition. He then told me the 
dog had just arrived and would look better in a few days after he was bathed 
and fattened up. I then asked if we could remove the heavy collar because it 
was weighing the dog down. The pathologist then called the caretaker to see 
about having the collar removed. The caretaker then told us the dog had 
already had one operation — bowel surgery — and that the collar wouldn’t come off. 
There was, of course, no identification on this dog’s cage. 
We went to the room where the long-term dogs are housed. Here again the 
floor in the room was very wet. One of the lower tier cages contained a mother 
dog and her 4-week-old puppies. A paper sack covering had been placed on 
the bottom of this cage, but it was so wet and soggy it covered only half of the 
bottom of the cage. The mother dog was wet and her four tiny puppies were 
dripping wet and shivering. At my insistence, the mother dog and the puppies 
were removed from the cage and an attempt was made to dry them. The 
puppies were so wet, however, that it was impossible to get them thoroughly 
dried. The caretaker removed the soggy paper and replaced it with a dry 
blanket. The mother dog wagged her tail in grateful thanks as she and her 
still shivering puppies were deposited on a dry clean blanket. It was impossible 
to determine what type of surgery had been performed on the mother dog — there 
was no identification on her cage. 
Had the inhumane treatment I’ve described been perpetrated by an individual, 
he could and would be punished by law, yet millions of animals behind the 
closed doors of our laboratories are the unprotected victims of cruel and in- 
humane treatment. These forgotten animals who contribute so much to mankind 
deserve to be protected by the most rigid Federal laws. 
We are hopeful our lawmakers will take immediate and definite action to pro- 
vide laboratory animals in this country with the protective legislation they so 
richly deserve. 
Respectfully, 
Mrs. Robert L. Dyce. 
