Activists from Freedom for Animals, Ark II, Action Volunteers for Animals, and University of Toronto Animal Rights Advocates gathered at the U of T Faculty of Dentistry to mourn the senseless deaths of "Hannah" and "Heidi", two macaque monkeys who were subjected to invasive brain experiments and then killed. Click here for full details of the experiments (warning: very disturbing).

The memorial service took place April 23, 2002, at 12 noon, at the south entrance of the Faculty of Dentistry, to mark World Week for Animals in Laboratories.

The Canadian Council on Animal Care, the organization which purports to protect animals in Canadian laboratories, has written a policy statment stating that animals in labs should not be protected by Bill C-15b (which increases penalties for cruelty to animals). Unfortunate, but not surprising, given that the CCAC Guidelines permit "Procedures which cause severe pain near, at, or above the pain tolerance threshold of unanesthetized conscious animals"! Bill C-15b has passed third reading in the House of Commons, but still needs to get past the Senate. See the Toronto Coalition for C-15b for information on how to contact senators.

Since 1982, researchers at the University of Toronto have restrained fully conscious monkeys and electrically stimulated parts of their brains, or frozen parts of their brains, causing the monkeys to move against their will, or be unable to move.

After learning that a series of experiments had been videotaped, we requested copies under the University's Access to Information Policy. Principal investigator Barry Sessle claimed that the videotapes had been destroyed.

Click here for more details about the macaque brain experiments, including full references to the original journal articles.

Last updated May 21, 2003.