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Stop Animal
Exploitation NOW!
Media Coverage Animal-rights activist finds path blocked at conference on primates
Scientists say that he is just after publicity
By Laura Giovanelli Michael Budkie eyed the Winston-Salem police officers walking into
the Benton Convention Center. There was one, then another. Budkie leaned against the sliding glass doors, a slight man in
wire-rim glasses, a navy suit and a worn-looking burgundy tie, looking
almost as straight-laced as the scientists walking past him, lining up
to get their official lime-green tote bags at this year's conference of
the American Society of Primatologists. Budkie shrugged. "I didn't know I was such a threat," he said
quietly. An animal-rights activist and the founder and executive director of
SAEN, or Stop Animal Exploitation Now, Budkie regularly garners
headlines across the country as he demonstrates and holds news
conferences to protest animal-research labs. He was trained as an
animal-health technician and has worked in veterinary offices, he said.
But he wasn't among the 300 or so researchers, academics and
conservationists that Wake Forest University, this year's conference
sponsor, wanted to show up for the first day of meetings yesterday
afternoon. Nor did they really expect him to attend such talks as "The
Chimpanzee Mind: Studies in the Field and the Laboratory," or
presentations on such topics as "Plasticity, Development, and the Social
Environment: Vocal Communication in the Marmoset." Not that Budkie hadn't tried. He printed out a registration form in
April, checked the box marked "nonmember," scribbled his credit-card
number and mailed it. By April 24, he had an answer. "Dear Mr. Budkie," the letter read. "Your application to register for
the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Primatologists
has raised questions regarding the society's policies as to who may
attend the meeting. We will be discussing these matters at the upcoming
meeting and developing policy for future meetings but, in the meantime,
we are declining your registration. Your credit card will not be
charged." So Budkie got in his car and drove to Winston-Salem from his home in
Ohio. He reserved a conference room at the Hawthorne Inn and yesterday
morning, invited local media to a news conference about cruelty in
animal research. Specifically he complained about research in brain mapping using
monkeys at Wake Forest and Duke universities, and handed out copies of
recent complaints against the two schools that he had sent to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Then he drove to the convention center, where he tried to register
for the conference. The first time he walked through, no one paid attention. The second time, he was accompanied by a reporter and photographer.
That got him noticed. Three burly men stopped him just inside the
entrance. About half an hour later, as the conference began and Budkie walked
to the registration desk, Suzette Tardiff, the association's president,
told him that he couldn't attend. "I'm not going to discuss it any further," Tardiff told him. Another conference official asked him to leave. By now, the police
seemed to have lost interest; Budkie passed just one officer as he
walked out the door. There was little fuss and little confrontation - this time. But the
argument over whether animals should be used in research is a
complicated, heated and polarizing one, with active animal-rights groups
such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals doing undercover
investigations and often using aggressive and sensational protests. Budkie seems to try quieter tactics, requesting public documents from
such state universities as the University of California, Davis, through
the Freedom of Information Act and other public-records requests. He has
researched and complained about research methods and conditions at
research primate centers across the country. Still, he has been involved in public demonstrations and targeted
rhetoric, including the primatologist society's conference in 2004. In
1996, SAEN targeted a psychology professor at the UNC Chapel Hill who
studied drug addiction using squirrel monkeys. In some research, she
used electric shock, according to the Chapel Hill Herald. Some of the scientific community has been moving away from animal
testing. The U.S. Research Council issued a report last week that
suggested scientific advances could lead to a reduced need for animal
testing of the toxicity of chemicals. But the report also said that
traditional animal testing would need to continue for the near future in
conjunction with nonanimal research because nonanimal methods had yet to
give scientists information that they get from an animal. SAEN would like to end all animal testing. Organizers of the primatologists' conference said they hoped that
Budkie wouldn't show up, but when he did, they didn't seem surprised.
"Sometimes they show up at these meetings and sometimes they don't,"
said David Friedman, the deputy associate dean for research at WFU.
"What (Budkie) is best at is getting publicity and harassing
individuals.� That's the only reason he came." Budkie said that the conference needs the point of view of the
animal-rights community. But many scientists who say they are convinced that animals are
useful research tools don't think the conference was the place. "We are a scientific society.� Michael Budkie is not a scientist,"
said John Capitanio, a researcher from UC, Davis, and the former
president of the society. "There isn't evidence that he has an interest
in the science of primates. "I will never be convinced that animal research is not valuable, and
I believe that as strongly as he believes against it." ■ Laura Giovanelli can be reached at 727-7302 or at
[email protected].
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