A well-known animal rights activist was found in contempt of court for the violation of an injunction regarding the harassment of UCLA researchers last Thursday.
Pamelyn Ferdin, 49, violated the injunction by distributing fliers containing the home addresses, photographs and phone numbers of UCLA research personnel during a protest at the homes of several faculty members on June 14.
After a two-day hearing, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of UCLA. As a result, Ferdin could face up to five days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine, according to a UCLA statement.
Ferdin, a frequent demonstrator at UCLA, is the president of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA, a group that is part of a global campaign to shut down Huntingdon Life Sciences, a private research facility.
Previous members of this group have served jail time for their participation in illegal activities aimed at Huntingdon Life Sciences, according to a UCLA statement.
UCLA was granted a preliminary injunction last April that prohibited protesters and activists from distributing personal information about researchers.
The injunction also prevented protesters from coming within 50 feet of UCLA faculty members’ private residences and within 150 feet at night.
“For the last two years, there has been a campaign of harassment toward UCLA research,” said campus spokesman Phil Hampton.
This campaign of harassment has included three firebombings, one of which was targeted at a UCLA commuter van, and threatening phone calls and e-mails.
Extremists have also been credited with the breaking of a window in a researcher’s home and the insertion of a garden hose, which caused $20,000 in damages, Hampton said.
In response to these threats, UCLA has taken steps to protect its researchers, Hampton added.
In addition to security at the off-campus residences of faculty members, UCPD also works in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies such as the LAPD and Santa Monica Police Department to offset these threats, Hampton said.
Despite these attacks, UCLA will continue to conduct animal research on campus, according to a UCLA statement.
As a result of these trials, faculty members have discovered a more potent tuberculosis vaccine, a possible prevention treatment for transplant organ rejection, and a more effective radiation therapy, among other medical breakthroughs that may not have been possible without the use of animal testing.
Approximately 98 percent of animals used for research are rodents, Hampton said.
But researchers are required to show that there is a necessity for the use of any animal in medical trials prior to testing, Hampton said. They are also required to adhere to a detailed set of protocols for laboratory research, with regard to the humane treatment of animals.
These protocols include the appropriate feeding, housing, ventilation, sanitation and sheltering of all animals used in research, according to the California Biomedical Research Association.
The CBRA is a lobbying advocate for UCLA, as well as other UCs and private research facilities that perform animal research.
Laboratories that engage in this type of research are also required to have a veterinarian with experience in laboratory animal care as part of their staff, as well as an animal use and care committee, which reviews all projects that involve animal testing, according to a statement by the CBRA.
In spite of the negative connotations that are sometimes associated with animal testing, such research can be vital to the development of new cures for diseases, Hampton said. “To take away research would be to take away hope from millions of people.”