Animal rights activists accused of stealing wrong dogs

Animal rights activists have stolen six huntaway dogs from a Massey University farm at Palmerston North, some of which are carrying a fatal genetic disease also found in humans.

The dogs -- a bitch and five puppies -- were sent to Massey by a farmer reluctant to have them put down. Instead he hoped Massey's Veterinary School could find a cure for the disease which attacks the nervous system, killing animals and young children.

Massey veterinarians had hoped that because of the genetic similarities, if they found a cure for the dogs they would also be able to save children. In this respect, they were working with the Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital.

The disease, mucopolysaccharidosis, targets the brain and without expert treatment the infected dogs were expected to die quickly.

If any of the dogs survive to be bred, they pose the risk of spreading the disease to other dogs.

"(The activists) thought they were liberating animals facing vivisection," said the head of the Massey University Veterinary School, Professor Grant Guilford said. "Instead they have got things horribly wrong and condemned at least some of the dogs to certain death."

The activists, claiming to be from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) posted an anonymous message on an animal liberation website yesterday boasting of breaking into Jennersmead Farm near Bunnythorpe on Tuesday night.

They say they stole records of the dogs' medical treatment which they destroyed in the belief that they were "breeding records".

The buildings with sprayed with graffiti and animal rights slogans.

"The police are now investigating," said Prof Guildford. "We will catch them."

In their website posting, the activists claimed Jennersmead is a vivisection lab and a breeding unit.

"We have freed six dogs from lifetimes of abuse at the hands of so-called scientists," they said.

"(The farm) was built by Glaxo as a vivisection lab animal breeding farm, and later sold to Massey University in the 1980s. Since then Massey University has used it as a dog breeding unit and commercial animal research laboratory."

Prof Guilford said the bitch is only a carrier of the disease and is not at risk.

However, at least several of the pups, who are only two weeks old and need to be kept with their mother, will have the full version of the disease and face "certain demise".

"The mother was someone's pet and was about to be returned home in a few weeks, after the pups were weaned," he said. "The owner is very upset."

Prof Guilford said there is no vivisection carried out at Jennersmead.

The colony of dogs maintained at the farm is used for handling "practicals" in which veterinary students are taught how to conduct physical examinations safely and well.

Occasionally they also participate in pet food palatability studies for manufacturers.

After a period of service dogs are placed in private homes.

In a message to the same animal liberation website yesterday, Prof Guilford hit back at the activists.

"We choose popular breeds for the colony and make very careful efforts to ensure they are well socialised so re-homing can happen," he said. "There are no 'leg experiments' at Jennersmead.

"So you have screwed up."

- nzpa