Rokke - 1

The Diary of Michelle Rokke - 1

Introduction

'In September of 1996 my life was irrevocably altered when I was hired as an Associate Technician at Huntingdon Life Sciences in East Millstone, New Jersey, USA. After years as an undercover investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and recently, other organizations, I've witnessed individual and industrialized abuse of animals over and over again.
I've watched chickens being ripped apart after weeks of suffering in factory farms, soft fluffy kittens waiting their turn in a medical torture chamber, pregnant mares strapped to hard rubber urine bags for the production of Premarin, miserable 'purebred' dogs locked in tiny cages in filthy puppy mills, and countless animals being hit, kicked, stabbed and choked. But, nothing prepared me for what I saw at Huntingdon Life Sciences.
My job as an Associate Technician involved animal husbandry duties. I took care of dogs, rats, mice and monkeys - at least I kept their cages clean. If I had taken care of them, in the truest sense, I wouldn't have seen so many suffer and die in vain at HLS. I wouldn't still be seeing their faces in my sleep.
In addition to cleaning their cages, I held the animals down for dosing with all sorts of toxic substances. I scrubbed blood from the floor after unnecessary surgeries were performed by inept, poorly trained employees. When chemicals were pumped into the animals - into their noses, mouths, skin, veins, stomachs and lungs, I recorded the effects and worried about their misery while others shrugged and walked away.
I learned that household cleaners, fluffy little over-the-counter medicines that are already available by the dozens, agricultural products and 'wonder drugs' all make animals suffer and die at HLS. Elsewhere in the lab, sunscreens were poured on rabbits, while guinea pigs and pigs suffered through other useless tests.
It's no secret among lab employees that the tests are ridiculous and based on slop science. When one popular antihistamine was recalled, a senior technician laughingly asked 'what did we do [this time]' when the headline was pointed out. Standard jokes for 'wonder drugs' included, 'It's either a cure for disease or a great weight loss drug', and 'Is this a cure or a rat poison?'.
Even though I was sent into animal rooms to 'observe' the animals, I was usually told not to worry about their subsequent health problems after dosing and not to record them. One day when I asked a co-worker what the point of the tests were, I was told 'Just because a drug has an affect on a dog it doesn't mean it's going to have that affect on a human'. I was then told 'the point of the testing is not to protect people, but to get the sponsor (the company paying for the tests) to bring return business back to the lab. The way to guarantee return business is to get the sponsor's drug on the market'.
I worked at HLS for about eight months and was hired with minimal experience to clean cages, hold animals for dosing and help with surgeries. The training program often consisted of co-workers telling me how to do things the way they were supposed to be done and then showing me how to do them the way they are really done. Initially, this was in reference to using disinfectant in the cages and leaving the dogs in the cages when they were cleaned. Later, the flagrant disregard for the rules became much more serious.
In one Proctor & Gamble study, primates were not given painkillers after deeply invasive abdominal surgery. In another, test results were wantonly and routinely skewed by employees' raucous bad behavior. In a dog study, a beagle screamed and struggled in pain day after day when an oral gavage tube was shoved down his throat to deliver a substance that would never save a human life.
I was still working at HLS when my supervisor came back from a trip to the UK. He pulled me aside and told me an undercover report [the second undercover investigation] of HLS in Britain had been aired on television and it had created a lot of turmoil. I anticipated many changes at the New Jersey laboratory as a result of the British exposure and was shocked when no one made an effort to improve any of the slop science techniques that were being used.
When I saw Zoe Broughton's report, 'It's a Dog's Life' [the second undercover investigation], I shook my head in amazement at the mirror image of what we've both seen. While the dogs in the UK seem to have larger cages and more opportunity for exercise, most other circumstances seem identical. Falsified records, dosing errors, blatant animal cruelty, and a lack of regard for animal welfare. The careless attitude of HLS technicians as they handle animals and perform tests that are of no use to human beings is truly and thoroughly sickening.
Later, when I read Sarah Kite's report [the first undercover investigation], I was horrified to see that nothing had changed since her first investigation into HLS years before. The animal research system clearly does not work to help people; it only works to make animals sick. The vivisectors, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and lab interests need the current animal research system to keep the dollars rolling in. After witnessing bungle after bungle inside the locked doors of a laboratory, I think if the cure for AIDS or cancer or the unsightly bump at the end of Dr. Frankenstein's nose is ever found through animal research it will be a miracle.
If we want to ensure the safety of human beings and the welfare of animals, the only solution is to prohibit vivisection and use exclusively non-animal tests which are safer and more reliable. Obviously, this is something the vivisectors abhor, since data from slop science like animal tests can be easily manipulated to show the desired result.
A US government study shows that over 50 percent of drugs put on the market are either re-labeled or recalled by the FDA after being used by human beings. The bottom line is, the first time any drug or product is used by people is the first time anyone really knows what will happen. All the testing before that point, all the suffering, all the dead animals tortured for profit and greed, only get an unknown substance on the market.
It is no exaggeration when I say I have nightmares about the animals I came to love at HLS. Other cases I worked on didn't allow me such an extended opportunity to know each victimized animal as an individual. Each day I worked, I would hold snuggly beagles in my arms and feel their damp noses on my neck. I would watch them struggle to scratch out of the 3 foot by 3 foot (roughly) steel cage they were locked in.
I saw co-workers slap them, yell at them and swing them through the air by the scruff of the neck when they had to move them. I was continually chastised for picking the dogs up carefully, and holding them close when I carried them from the small 'home' cage to the 'exercise' cage (a larger cage the dogs were supposed to be put in for ten minutes a few times per week, but rarely were).
I can't help but picture my favorites when I see a beagle running in the park. I see their sad faces when I close my eyes. I wonder what Spud, Joey, The Major and Ellie would be like, running through the grass and being held and loved, instead of held down and hurt. When I see the beagle in the park roll on her back, the image that won't leave my head is of a beagle in the necropsy room throwing her head back and screaming as a knife entered her, slitting her throat.
A series of numbers instantly makes me recall a primate's tattoo. I see the finely textured skin of the macaques. I see their human-like fingernails and their little navels. I see them using their seldom supplied 'enrichment' mirrors, not to look at their own reflection, but to examine parts of a barren concrete room they have no chance to see.
When the dirty secrets of HLS US were revealed in 1997, it didn't take long for major companies who tested their products on animals at the lab to cry out in alarm. Not only was the sponsor company being exposed for supporting blatant animal abuse at a laboratory they contracted with, but the useless and secret ritual of animal testing was also being exposed again.
Almost immediately HLS managed a federal gag order to keep the sham of animal research hidden from the public. They went to great lengths to ensure that the public would not find out the truth: animal testing does not protect people, it actually helps unsafe drugs and products get to and stay on the market.
HLS sued PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, Marybeth Sweetland and myself under the pretext of a racketeering and trade secrets suit. Eventually we settled out of court, in part because of a legal system that can only be described as biased and the belief that most of the information had already been distributed.
Because of the settlement agreement with HLS I'm prevented from talking about a lot of the animal suffering I witnessed at HLS. In other words, I am prevented from detailing tests and products and companies the public does have a right to know about. But I'm not prevented from telling the world that animal research is a sham. I've been there and I've seen it. Animal research is a game of Russian roulette at best. At worst, animal research will kill our friends, human and non-human....'.

Note:-
(i)In the following, when there is reference to animals being 'sacrificed', this refers to the animal(s) being killed.
(ii)'Obbed', 'Obbing' or 'Ob' which frequently occur in the diary refer to 'Observed', 'Observing' or 'Observe'.

The Diary of Michelle Rokke

9/18/96 Wednesday HLS
HLS is located on Mettlers Road, East Millstone, NJ (908) 873-2550. The company started out as a very small mom and Pop company using old farmhouses as offices and keeping animals in an outbuilding where the current facility is now located. Its former names are Bio Dynamics and PharmCo LSR, which was purchased in November or December 1995 by Huntingdon International Holdings - a company based in the UK. The name was then changed to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). Huntingdon has labs in England (2), Japan, and Korea.
The company has downsized after being purchased and currently employs about 180 people with plans to hire more when a new area for chemical analysis (which is currently farmed out) opens. There are usually between 6,000 - 10,000 animals on the premises including non-human primates, canines (beagles only, I?m told), pigs, rats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, and occasionally ferrets, chickens and felines. HLS is contracted to pre-clinically test pharmaceuticals and chemicals - almost everything, though I have yet to hear anyone specifically mention cosmetics.
I am an associate technician and my duties will include animal husbandry, pre-surgery preparation, assisting in simple taking and eventually I will be in charge of my own studies. When I interviewed with Robin Larkin, she told me that no animal leaves here [Huntingdon] alive. She said they all had to be euthanased when the study was over, sometimes to tissues could be harvested and analysed, and if that was not necessary they were still euthanased because 'what could you do with these adult dogs who are used to standing in a cage all day going to the bathroom'. When Robin took me on a tour of the facility during my interview she told me about studies they do there including a ten-year study on birth control pills. She said the study was on dogs and was ending when she started. She told me the FDA does business with the lab. Current studies [1997] at HLS:
Room 451 - #96-3321 B-2 swine (3) - Bristol Myers 3 way pk mini pig
Room 453 - #96-3321 B-2 swine (3) - Bristol Myers 3 way pk mini pig
Room 455 - #96-3321 B-2 swine (6) - Bristol Myers 3 way pk mini pig
Room 457 - #96-3321 B-2 swine (3) - Bristol Myers 3 way pk mini pig
Room 454 - #96-3316 A-79 - canine (18) - Alteon 1 mo dog gavage
Room 456 - #96g-3316 A-79 - canine (18) - Alteon 1 mo dog gavage
Room 902 - #96-3325 A-8 (16 males & 16 females - 9/24/96) - Am Cy 28 day dietary dog
Room 904 - #95-3278 C-l- canine (24) - Colgate 1 year chronic dog
Room 906 - #95-3278 C-1 - canine (24) - Colgate 1 year chronic dog
(Room 904 and 906 - Study #3478 began 11/28/95 -obvious signs of discomfort and ill health
after dosing. This is the Colgate-Palmolive study.) Test Material - 40714
Room 908 - #95-3274 N-2 - canine (32) - Nippon Kayaku 1 yr capsule dog - Cycloprothrin
Room 910 - #96-3324 Z-05 (the room census reports 8 dogs, I?ve only seen 4) - canine ("acclimate to tubes")

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Room 916 - #96-3309 P-65 - canine (20) - Pentech 6mo subcutaneous dog
Room 917 - #93-3091 - 'extra' canine colony (26) - Dogs mating colony (contrary to the name there is no mating involved)
Room 918 - #96-3318 A-83 - canine (18) - Amgen 3 mo dog IV Test Material- NM321
Room 919 - #96-3318 A-83 - canine (19) - Amgen 3 mo dog IV
Room 920 - #96-3322 L-30 - canine (capsule) (28) - Ligand Pharm 90 day dog
Room 921 - #96-3322 L-30 - canine (capsule) (26) - Ligand 90 day dog
Room 922 - #93-3093 - Primates -(46 - 18 male, 28 female) -Monkeys mating colony (extra colony - on the computer it's listed as mating colony.)
Room 946 - #96-3317 P-1 - primates (6 - 3 male, 3 female)
Room 949 - #96-3613 C-76 - primate (15 - 7 male, 8 female)
Room 950 - #96-3613 C- 76 (sacrifice order for 9/30 -found 9/29)
Room 951 - (3 primates) (12 - 5 male, 7 female)
Room 956 - #94-3221 P-56 - primate (12 - 6 male, 6 female)
Room 957 - #96-3314 P-56 primate (28 - 14 male, 14 female) - (anthelminitic; Tramisol) Dose w/feed?
Room 958 - #96-3314 P-56 primate (28 - 14 male, 14 female) - (anthelminitic; Tramisol) Dose w/feed?

Supervisor toxicology - Robin Larkin
Supervisor cardiology - Gene Lysko (formerly of Wyeth-Ayerst)
Supervisor large animals - Eleanor Ikenson
Senior technician - Walter James
Technicians/Senior technicians/ Technologists - Kathy E Bossert, Kevin Melvin, Cesair Gai, Lynn Porcello, Stephanie Leto, Lisa Stanislawezyk, Rachel West, Nick Citarella, Dilip Purushwakam, Al Camacho, Irene Capodanno, Brian W Crane, Jennifer Fine, Yao ZiLiang,
Associate technician - Henry Laing

Gene told me they were starting a 36-hour study on primates for which they had done surgery and inserted three catheters - one in the neck and two in the leg (the double leg catheter is a special invention). A company from California, Biotech, sponsored the study to test an anti-clotting medicine they want to market. They are trying to determine what would happen if their product were given simultaneously with Heparin - like if someone ended up in the emergency room already on one and the other were given. He said they were anticipating a lot of trouble with the test: for instance they didn't know if the primates would have any clotting ability left and if they would just haemorrhage right away. The three-catheter set up requires a special swivel that keeps tangling and kinking. The surgeries had been done two weeks ago and now the monkeys were starting to realize the wounds were there and were picking at the catheters.
Gene told me the FDA is a client and had come to Huntingdon to be trained in inhalation studies. He said the company is highly specialized in that department.
A man named Dilip trained me on cleaning the dog rooms today. They are cleaned once a day, food bowls are changed once a week and the racks (banks of cages) are changed every two weeks. The dogs are granted exercise three times a week for a minimum of ten minutes - Dilip told me that two minutes of that is devoted to socialization from the cleaners. Dilip told me to place two of the same sex dogs in one of the exercise cages, soak their cages with water, add a splash of sanitizer and while they're soaking I should pet the dogs in the exercise cage for about two minutes. He left me alone to clean the cages and I had only placed four new dogs in the exercise cages when he returned and told me to really only spend about one minute petting the dogs.

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He left and returned to see me cleaning out the next set of four cages telling me to really only spend about 15 seconds petting the dogs. He then said, "We have only a certain amount of time to clean the rooms."
The male 'extra' dog in room 454 is extremely thin. I could distinctly see and feel his ribs. Even when I was using the hose to clean the cages I never saw Dilip pet or socialize any of the dogs with the exception of the first control male - he did pet his head through the cage to show me what was meant by petting.
Dilip showed me several times how I was supposed to move the dogs from cage to cage. He grabs the dog by the scruff of the neck swinging him or her out of the cage and across his body so he could then hold the dog under the abdomen with his other hand. His other hand free, he opened the cage door, grabbed the dog by the scruff again and tossed the dog in. He was not overly rough with the dogs but neither did he take the time to be gentle or careful. He moved them from cage to cage as if they were sacks of potatoes. I tried to spend more time supporting the dog's body throughout the move - taking the opportunity to give them a discreet hug-and some quick ear rubs, but when I did this Dilip would show me again how to grab the dogs by the scruff of the neck.
Dilip came into the tech room around 5:00 and said one of the primates in the room he was in had gotten his hand stuck in the cage. He demonstrated with his hands that the primate's hand was swollen to the size of a softball and he was unable to free it. There were approximately seven or eight people in the technician room and every one looked away and acted busy when the word spread through that a monkey was stuck. Rachel yelled out to "lube him up" because that's what they had done over the weekend when one got stuck. Finally Dilip just left the room when no one got up to help.
The barren cement walled rooms that hold the animals smell of urine and faeces. The protective equipment signs vary from room to room. Some rooms require extensive protective gear from respirators to hair bonnets, while others just require gloves and masks. ALL of the rooms require masks be worn. The masks are very effective at filtering odours and unless the odour is extremely pungent, very little is noticeable. However, I've noticed if I have to remove my mask for some reason, or a door is opened as I walk by, the air is heavy with the smell of urine and faeces.
Room 916, study 3309, smells strongly of alcohol. The dosing method is IV and the sharps container and alcohol swabs remain in the room.

9/19/96 Thursday HLS
Nick trained me to clean the room that contains study #3309 (Pentech). He told me he had to remember how to do thing the right way because he always does them his own way. Nick told me to use a disinfectant called Unicide. Then he said he hasn't used it in two years. Nick told me he soaks all of the cages first thing (to soften the faeces up) even though there are dogs in them. It saves time but I shouldn't do it if someone is looking in the window.

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Nick told me on exercise days we have to be in the rooms for probably an hour or so to allow the dogs to exercise for ten minutes each - but that as I get the hang of things I'll learn how to get everything done in about 20 minutes but make it look like an hour on paper. We have to document exercise times.
Nick said sometimes he checks the water source to the cage before he cleans. Dilip told me it was very important to check the water line after cleaning to make sure it was functioning because if it wasn't the dog could be without water for more than 24 hours. Dilip told me soaking the cages first makes it easier and that's why he and Nick always soaks all of the cages right away when they start cleaning.
Dilip cleaned room 456 while I started on room 454. We had only brought one bottle of disinfectant and I asked if he wanted to share it or should I go get another one. He grinned and said no. I asked if he was going to use any. He grinned and shook his head. Dilip told me they had to use a bolt cutter to cut the cage away from the monkey's hand last night. He showed me again that the hand was swollen to the size or a softball (approximately). Dilip said he had been stuck for a long time - probably 24 hours or more.
Dilip went to check on the monkeys this morning and found out one had died. One of the extras that hadn't been exposed to anything was just lying dead in his cage - no one knew why he had died. Dilip pointed out a note that LM left on the clipboard of room 919 that one of the beagles #2180 was not supposed to be exercised - only petted. He left me alone to start cleaning and I did not put #2180 in the exercise cage according to the note. Dilip came into the room and immediately put #2180 in the exercise cage. I pointed to the clipboard and he took him out and returned him to his cage. I saw he was favouring his left rear leg and was reluctant to put any pressure on it, holding it up almost continually. He huddled in the back corner of the cage for most of the time I was in the room. The other dogs were all dancing around and jumping at the front of their cages for attention.
In the tech room, Holly and Lisa talked about a call they received to check a protocol. The caller was questioning whether a group of animals had been having unnecessary blood taken after dosing. They both laughed and said they hoped not.

9/21/96 Saturday HLS
In room 906 - study (Colgate) - one of the females, #2555, in the green dosage group, has very red, puffy ears. The hair around the edge of each ear is gone and both ears look very sore. (photos)
Dog #4554 in 3278, room 906 has very long nails.
A female, #2553, in room 904, had drops of dried and fresh blood all around her cage. Walter had written it down as 'RVD' - red vaginal discharge. The male 'extra' dog in room 456 is very thin. I can see and feel his ribs.

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Eleanor looked at pig #8's throat and said it didn't look good. She pointed out that it is very swollen and puffy - not at all like it should look. The whole time we had the pig, #8, out she commented on how bad the pig's throat looks, that it didn't look good at all, that maybe someone didn't hold the vein off long enough after bleeding - maybe it was a haematoma...
Everyone was very quiet and Eleanor kept talking about how bad it looked so I asked what should be done now - will a vet request be put in? She said no and that was all that was said about it.

9/22/96 Sunday HLS
While I was cleaning room 456 Kathy came in with a clipboard from room 451, a room containing pigs. She told me to date and initial the last column on the paper. I told her I had initialled that I had cleaned the room yesterday morning. She said I had to initial that I had given the pigs fruit - they get half an apple after the room is cleaned. I told her I didn't know that and she thrust the clipboard at me and told me to initial it. I told her I didn't give them any fruit because I didn't know and she still made me initial the paper.
A few minutes later Kathy returned with the clipboard from room 455. She told me I had to initial the column marked fruit. I told her I didn't give them fruit either because I didn't know I should. She handed me the clipboard and said I had to initial it.
Kathy bled the pigs this morning. When she looked at pig #8 she said, "Yeah, he really does have a thrombosis going on." I asked what a thrombosis was and she said It just means someone didn't hold the vein off long enough after the blood was taken. She didn't say any more about it and took the blood from the pig's jugular anyway.
In room 904, female #2553 still had drops of blood in her cage, though less than yesterday. (RVD)
In room 906, female #2555 still had very red puffy blotchy ears.
In room 904, female #2550 had very red puffy blotchy ears (they looked similar to female 2555 in room 906). The hair was missing around the edges of her ears and they looked very sore. Her USDA # is 2624419 she is from colony 766F.
Room 904 and 906 are part of the same study #3278 (Colgate). The dogs in rooms 904 and 906 are adults and seem much older and bigger than the beagles I've seen in other rooms (454, 456, 920, 921). They also seem much less healthy and happy. The dogs dance and bark to get my attention and most of them immediately adopt a submissive position when the cage door is opened. They appear to be torn between desperately needing the human affection they've been reared to expect and reluctant to be put through more painful invasive tests. When I carry them between cages they press their bodies into mine and nuzzle their noses into my neck. When I put them down, they dance for joy at not being subjected to another painful procedure.
Many of the females in room 904 and 906 (Colgate) appear unthrifty and unkempt. They seem very thin and dull looking. Often there is pasty diarrhoea in their cages and foamy piles of vomit.

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In room 906 - study #3278, the dogs were received on 11/28/95. All of the dogs have sore looking feet and long nails. Dog #2055 (USDA #2633193) has a very red muzzle and very red toes. He is a male from colony 749. Dog #2555 (USDA #2625750) has very red inflamed ears. The hair is missing in spots and they are swollen and bumpy. No vet request has been written. She is a female from colony 771. (Photos taken roll #1) Dog #4554 is extremely submissive and friendly she lies on her side and wags her tail whenever you look at her. USDA #2622416 from colony 763. (Photos roll #1)
Dog #1193 is extremely thin. (Room 456 - study 96-3316 Alteon) (Photo taken roll #1) In room 906, Colgate Palmolive study 95-3278, I told Dilip two of the females have ear- tags that have the numbers chewed off. He showed me their USDA numbers are on a chart on the clipboard in each room. He told me to check the tattoo in the dog's ear and match it with the chart. The dog we were checking, number 1555 was all wriggly and excited about being out on the floor with two people looking at her and was jumping all around. Dilip hit her in the face and checked the tattoo. Dilip told me in India where he used to live he is a veterinarian but not here in the US.

9/25/95 Wednesday HLS
Irene and Brian were each drawing blood from dogs in the hall. I watched Irene stick the needle in the dog's neck and jab and fish around repeatedly - sticking the dog about eight times. She withdrew the needle and repeated the procedure. After five more jabs she asked Brian if he wanted to switch dogs. Brian was having the same problem with the dog he was trying to draw blood from.
Dilip trained Henry and I to clean the primate rooms. We went into #922 and saw one of the primates was loose. Dilip, Lynn and Rachel (?) chased him all around the room with leather gloves and catchpoles. Finally Lynn was able to grab the primate's tail. He resisted and she really yanked on him to pull him in. Rachel and Lynn each grabbed one arm and they both twisted them back behind him as they carried him to his cage.
Most of the primates are very frightened of people. Only three of four of the approximately forty 'extras' would come forward to take a treat from my hand.
I saw an escaped primate in room #956. He was standing on top of his cage fiddling with the florescent lights.
Gene Lysko told me there is a big tour tomorrow. Merck is visiting and if they like what they see we'll all have a better Christmas. He said when he started in June there had not been regular maintenance done on the equipment for a long time and therefore a lot of it didn't function. He said Sandoz dropped in for a surprise inspection on a Thursday - they had a 28 dog study scheduled to start the following Monday. They didn't like what they saw and cancelled the study.
He said they asked to see maintenance records for equipment and there weren't any. He said the department had been badly managed and they could have at least written it down even if they didn't do it would at least look like they cared enough to write something down but there was nothing. He gave an example about when he started it was so bad he had anaesthetized rabbits and the equipment they needed didn't function at all. He said Sandoz cancelling the study meant a $280,000.00 loss to the company. They went somewhere else.

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He said sometimes companies will drop in but usually they schedule it - but not too many come in. Bristol-Myer comes in sometimes.

9/26/96 Thursday HLS
In room 916 - study 3309, the dogs are very hyper. They act like they've never been out of the cage before. Their nails are very long and need to be trimmed.
Lisa and Lynn were drawing blood from one of the dogs from room 919 study #3318 (Amgen). Lisa pointed out to Lynn how emaciated one of the dogs was and said "...it had that greyhound thing going on," pointing to her curved bony backbone.
Irene and Brian were also drawing blood. Irene had to stick a dog repeatedly before she obtained the blood sample.
In room 917 - where the extras are kept one of the dogs - photos taken roll #2) has extremely long nails that are bending backwards and inward. Lisa commented on them in the tech room as I was leaving saying there's a dog in 917 who really needs his nails cut. Dog #1034's ear is infected where the ear-tag was put on. It's oozing green pus and blood and is covered with big scabs that partially obscure the ear-tag. (Photos taken roll #2)
Dog #1062 is emaciated. His ribs are clearly visible as is his backbone. (Photos taken roll #2) Most of1he dogs in this room are extras because they weren't healthy or strong enough to be used in a study. Eleanor told Lynn they wanted 16 females added to her study. Both Lynn and Lisa were surprised. Eleanor was considering using the extra females in room 917 and she asked how old they were.
Lisa laughed and said sarcastically "They're ancient! They've been here like five years." I asked if she was serious and she said they'd been around a long time. I asked why they weren't just euthanased if they weren't good enough to be used in a study. Lynn said they were good to practice on - like IV's and stuff. Eleanor went to look at them as I left. Lynn asked what the stuff they were dosing the dogs with in her study and Eleanor wouldn't tell her.
Most of the dogs in room 917 (extra colony) feel thin and there are a couple that look visibly emaciated.
In the computer room, Bob from Rodent toxicology was telling Kevin about the rats in his study. Kevin is running the same study using dogs - study 96-3318 (Amgen). Bob said they had lost approximately 65% of the high dosage group and the sponsor blamed it on a bad batch of test material. They all laughed at that as if everyone always uses that excuse. He then said everyone panicked when a placebo rat died just out of the blue - it turned out the rat had a birth defect and was only born with one kidney. Bob said the rat's noses (muzzles), ears and feet all turn bright red from the test material. Bob said most of the rats can no longer use their back legs because the test material makes their blood so thick it doesn't reach the extremities.
He said they lose use of their back legs, then they urinate blood and then they die. Their kidney's shut down - can't handle it. Kevin said he was told that the blood would start to collect in the joints because it was thick and it would probably cause a lot of dislocations. Kevin said they called Terry, the vet, to look at one of the dogs in 3318 after dosing.

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He was lying with his head up against his food bowl on his back gasping for air. They requested euthanasia and Terry adamantly said no she had one like that before that recovered. Kevin questioned if it had been THIS bad. The dog was left in that condition. Bob asked if he was pissing blood yet - that's what happens to all of theirs right before they die.
In room 919 - study #3318 dog number 2180M suffered a dislocation from the test material. He favours, his leg and spends most of the time sitting at the back of his cage. In room 921 - study 96-3322 - company code L-30, The dogs were born on several different days in March 1996 and purchased from Marshall Farms. The study began on 9/4/96. Dog [#1222 M or # 2193] (USDA #2765152) born on 3/6/96. Dog [#1271 F or #2693] (USDA #2770971).
Either dog #2193 or #2194 had a bloody bowel movement in the exercise cage. I told Brian, Kevin, Rachel and someone else in the technician room. Brian finally delegated the task of documenting it to Kevin saying, "It's Walter's study you're his best friend - help him out." Kevin and Brian said it was definitely something they should be told about and groaned when I told them. They tried to determine the amount according to my description. I told them it was enough that I saw it though I wasn't looking for it. They asked if it was bright red I said there was a lot of bloody mucous material all over the top of the faeces.
Kevin waved his hand and said, "Oh, puppies get that all the time nothing to worry about if it's mucous." (photo taken roll #2) In room 921, study 96-3322, dog number 3693 caught her ear tag on the feeder. I heard her crying and screaming. When I got to her cage I saw part of her ear-tag was caught in the shelf that holds the food bowl.
In room 920, one of the banks of cages was tipped sideways and backwards when I walked by. There were still dogs in it and no one was attending to them. Henry had just cleaned in the room. (photos taken roll #2)
In room 906 - study #3278, the dogs were received on 11/28/95. All or the dogs have sore looking feet and long nails. Dog #2055 (USDA #2633193) has a very red muzzle and very red toes. He is a male from colony 749. Dog #2555 (USDA #2625750) has very red inflamed ears. The hair is missing in spots and they are swollen and bumpy. No vet request has been written. She is a female from colony 771. (Photos taken roll #2) Dog #4554 is extremely submissive and friendly she lies on her side and wags her tail whenever you look at her. USDA #2622416 from colony 763.
A couple of the dogs in study 3316 are very thin. I can feel and see their ribs. Kathy asked me to help her capture an escaped primate in room 956. She said she had tried to catch him and had gotten very frustrated so she thought she better ask for help before she hurt him [on purpose]. I held a squeegee to keep him from running away and Kathy slipped the catchpole around his waist.
I was surprised when she cinched it up tight - I thought she would cut him clean through with the pressure. The primate was so afraid he urinated. She walked him to his cage with that around his waist and as he entered the cage he grabbed hold of the bars and wouldn't let go. She pulled and yanked on the catchpole. I offered him the end of the squeegee and he grasped it and let go of the cage door so Kathy could push him.

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From E-Mail (hard copy available): Tours week of September 23 - 9/24/96 Alza, 9/25/96 Alza, 9/25/96 Forrest Labs, 9/26-27 Texaco, meeting to address a poor quality assurance audit (QA #6716) about our unit (cardio) producing poor quality data for study #96-3609, Merck visiting to consider infusion studies - 2nd visit, Teresa S. Kusznir (the veterinarian) says to notify security or page her with emergencies if animals are in definite pain or distress. If they are in pain or distress but can wait leave a message or an e-mail and she'll see the animal when she can. Dog #2555, in study 95-3278 has red, sore ears (photo taken).

9/29/96 Sunday HLS
From E-mail (hard copy available): Tours week of September 28 - 10/1-2/96 Dow Corning, 10/4/96 Wacker.
In room 456 - study #3316 (Alteon) dog #2016 is very thin, as is dog #1193. (photos)
In room 455 - study #3321 I helped Al hold pigs 7, 8 and 9 while Kathy drew blood. As soon as she saw pig number 8's neck she exclaimed over how bad it looked. It is very bruised and swollen. Much worse than last week when I saw it. When Al took the gauze pad and applied pressure to stop the bleeding when Kathy was through the pig squealed and yelled and tried to get up. Kathy came back in the room and said, "Now that's not like him, he's usually really good you can tell his neck's hurting him." Then she said, "He's in pain."
I asked Al if someone didn't apply pressure long enough after the bleeding and he said yes that's what caused it. These three pigs (including number 8 even though he's in pain as a result and during ...) are being bled several times a day during the 36-hour post-dosing schedule.
There was no exercise or empty holding cage in room 908 study #3274 when I went into clean. I asked AI and Irene what I should do with the dogs while I cleaned each cage. Al looked at Irene and said "You tell her - I'll leave the room while you do." Irene hesitated and Al said, "I'll tell you the first option. The first option is to bring in an exercise cage from another room." Then he said to Irene "I'll leave now and you can tell her what else she could do." Irene said "[she] had seen some cleaners on the weekends put the dogs on the floor to run around while they cleaned even though they weren't supposed to." She said, "[she] wasn't telling me to do that but just that she knew some people did." I asked what I should do - where would I get the cage from. Irene called Dilip over to help me get a cage from another room.
Kathy said to Irene "Thanks for verifying the dose." Irene said "Well, I saw you with the stuff I hope you went into the right room." Kathy said "Me too," and they both laughed. Room 951 study #96-3617 has 12 primates. Some of them have sores on their inner thighs and necks where catheters were implanted.
In room 921 - study #3322, the Ligand Pharmacy study, the dogs are very unthrifty. They have very dirty ears and some have very bad rashes on their stomachs and feet. In room 906 - study #3278 (Colgate) dog number 2054 (USDA# 2634597 a male from Marshall Farms colony received on 11/28/95) has an open abscess on his front foot. It's located between the 2nd and 3rd phalanges and is extremely inflamed and oozing blood. He has a very distinctive howl.

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Dog number 4554 has an enlarged nipple - the outer section of it is entirely separate from the inner section. She is very thin her backbone is evident as are her ribs. Most of the dogs in this room have one 'Kong' toy in their cage. When I went into clean I saw that four of the toys were trapped beneath the grate and the tray completely inaccessible to the dog in the cage. The only way the toy could have gotten under the grate would be during cleaning the day before.
The size of the cage and the toy makes it impossible to become lodged underneath unless the grate is pulled out as it is during cleaning. The toy has to be manually retrieved after it falls down to the tray or it remains lodged underneath. Someone was in too much of a hurry to retrieve the only entertainment these dogs have. I have seen this two other times in this room - with four Kong toys in four cages involved each time. Dogs 2553, 2053, 3553, and 3053 are all extremely thin.
I read a protocol from Proctor and Gamble. It was a yearlong study that was extended using a colony of 12 cynologomus primates (blue monkeys? - they have blue chests) some wild caught, others bought from Three Springs Scientific in Perkasie, PA. This colony of primates is kept going just so Proctor and Gamble can use them to spontaneously test various drugs. One of the memos in the book notes a male who had a sore on his hand that didn't heal. A request to amputate a digit on his hand was sent to the sponsor and authorized. The surgery was performed by Terry Kusznir, the staff veterinarian.
I read a protocol from Colgate Palmolive using beagles for a study where capsule dosing would be done for a one-year period. It is study #3278 rooms 904 and 906. The dogs were received on 11/28/95 but the study didn't start until January 1996 due to some high pre-test urine samples. It is scheduled to terminate on 1/17/97. The protocol states that ingestion of the test material is one possible form of entry by humans. The technicians dosing these dogs say the test material makes the dogs ill.

10/2/96 Wednesday HLS
Room 455 and 457, study 3321 contain pigs. There are Kong toys lying locked in empty cages above the cages where the pigs are inaccessible to them.
Room 917 study 3091 dog number 1034 USDA 2686198 has a very bad infection where the ear tag is pierced. I took a photo of it on 9/26/96 - it was oozing and scabbed over the first number of the tag was partially obscured. Today it looked much worse and the first number on the tag is totally obscured by big scabs. She is very thin.
Dog number 1062 (USDA 2724081) is extremely thin and unthrifty looking. Dog number 1049 (USDA 2718201) is extremely thin.
The cages are supposed to be changed every two weeks. The cages in room 917 are very dirty. There is a heavy slimy brown coating on a lot of the doors and throughout each cage (on the walls etc.) Since these dogs are not actively in a study they receive substandard ministration and care.

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All of the dogs in room 917 need their nails trimmed, except for the male who Lisa commented on last week saying there is a dog in 917 that needs his nails trimmed. I saw today it had been done but none of the others were taken care of.
Room 902, study 3325, dog number 1303 (USDA 2798816) is very shy. He cowers in the corner of his cage and is reluctant to come forward but once he's reassured he is friendly and snugly. He was born on 5/11/96. I've been calling him "Stripe" because he has a broad white stripe down his face.
In room 906, study 3278, dog number #2555 (USDA #2625750) has very red inflamed ears. The hair is missing in spots and they are swollen and bumpy. No vet request has been written. She is a female from colony 771. Dog #4554 is extremely thin. Some of the faeces in the bottom of the cages was very foamy when the water hit it to be washed away. There was vomit in many of the cages and diarrhoea.
Room 904, study 3278, dog number 2550, colony 766 has very raw sore looking ears (photo). The hair is missing in spots around the edges and there are scabs on the inside and bumps both inside and out. Kathy wrote a vet request on June 27th. Terry acknowledged the "severe rash" but recommended no treatment. Dog number 3551 (USDA 2627523) colony 778 had a second ear-tag attached and the site is very infected and sore looking.
Henry and I cleaned part of 904 together as I was hosing cages I saw him pick a dog up off the floor by his front leg and toss him in a cage. Henry took one of three beagles out of the exercise cage and when he tried to close the cage door one of the dogs tried to get out. He repeatedly slammed the cage door on the dog's head (a total of four slams) before finally getting the door closed.
We have both been told (by Dilip) not to exercise more than two dogs together at one time. He could have pushed the dog back with one hand and gotten the door shut without slamming it on his head. Perhaps one time could be considered an accident but I watched him deliberately slam the door over and over again as if he were trying to teach the dog a lesson about rushing out of the cage. All of the dogs in room 904 need their nails trimmed.
In 3318, dog number 2180, (USDA #2752832, colony 1144, received 8/6/95,19 arrivals) favours one of his legs and spends a lot of time sitting in the back of his cage.

10/3/96 Thursday HLS
Study 3321, rooms 455 (7 mini-pigs) and 457 (3 mini-pigs) - the pigs are very smart. They are at first very frightened about taking the long step down out of the cage but once they get the courage up they leap out and trot around the room and socialize with the other pigs. They snort and talk and touch noses through the cage bars. They love the gentle spray of the hose and inquisitively feel objects they find with their mouths.
The best part of the day is being able to give treats to the primates and the pigs after cleaning. The pigs each get half a piece of fruit (usually apples) and they LOVE them. Most pigs will allow themselves to be herded back into their cages if given the opportunity, especially if there is a nice hunk of juicy apple waiting for them. The method of picking them up is to grab one front and one back leg and flip them - thus carrying them upside down. This terrifies them and whenever they're taken out for bleeding or dosing this is how they're transported.

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It's unnecessary stress and cruel since they'll enter and exit their cages happily if they're afforded the opportunity.
Study 3318 room 919 the dogs seem quiet again today - like they're just not feeling well. They'll bark and dance around initially, but then they just seem to run out of energy. Their faeces has been particularly pasty and sticky the last two days.
I saw a folder marked final data report for study 3318 for certain dates. The first page noted the test material as NM321 but a few pages later I saw several pages that had the test material noted as NMl23.
Study 3274 (Nippon) room 908, there are 32 dogs in this room. They all are very tired of the routine of being in cages and being tested on. The majority of these dogs try to hide behind their food dishes when the cage door is opened. They crave human attention but are often reluctant to accept it knowing, after nearly a year, what human attention translates to - pain! All the dogs in room 908 need their nails trimmed.
Dog number 4567 (USDA 2629658) sat quietly throughout the whole cleaning procedure - an hour and 45 minutes by the time I got to her. When I picked her up I saw one of the nails on her front left foot was inflamed and swollen where the base of the nail emerges from the toe. Her whole toe was swollen and red. Her nails need to be trimmed. They are overly long and are curving around under the pad.
The water line to the cages dogs 2566 (USDA 2628163) and 2066 (USDA 2631903) are in was not attached when I checked them after cleaning. I don't know how long they were without water but as soon as I reattached it they both drank continually for three and a half minutes. In room 906, study 3278 the Colgate study, dog number 2554 (USDA 2625521) is very thin and unkempt looking. She's very wild and hyper when she's being taken from her cage. Today I saw one of the nails on her hind foot was bleeding from the base of the nail. Her nails are very long and need to be trimmed.
All of the dogs in this room (906) need their nails trimmed - badly.
I asked Stephanie again about dog number 1034 (room 917) in the extra colony. I showed her the dog's ear tag covered with pus. Today the pus and blood had run all down the inside edge or the tag. I asked what was normally done about that - when the tag-site gets all infected do they put anything on it. She said sometimes but only when it was really bad. She didn't think this was bad enough to put anything on. .
In the tech room, Eleanor said there was a bone crushing study coming up that wouldn't be entered in the computer because it's only two weeks in length. Eleanor told me the veterinarian Terry will fracture one of the small bones in one of the front legs of the dog and they'll be put in casts. The substance being tested is supposed to make bones heal faster and that's what they're testing.
Myers 3way Pk mini pig - 3321, Ligand pharmacy - 3322, Am Cy 28 day dietary dog 3325.

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Several technicians have told me to keep copies of my timesheets.
E-Mail: Robin Larkin is taking a group of people to Procter and Gamble's tox facility in Norwich, NY on October 15 and 16th to tour the facility and see a demonstration on rodent tail bleeding, client visits week of September 30: Dow Corning, Acea, Chiron, ARCO, Wacker.

10/5/96 Saturday HLS
Irene told me someone [Lynn] got bitten by a dog this week. The test material in study 3318 is given IV and it makes the dogs very sick afterwards. She said it really wasn't the dog's fault, they're getting old, they've been here a while and they're sick of being tested on. She said they give them the dose then put them on the floor so they can observe their physical symptoms.
She said, "The test material is a human blood antibody and makes them feel just horrible." The girl who was bitten went to pick the dog up from the floor and that's when he bit her. The test material for study 3274 is listed on the dosing chart as "cycloprothrin". Irene has worked at HLS for five years and at a vet clinic for 4 or 5 years prior to that. She told me she has no actual degree or education in animal care it's all just been hands-on experience.
She was hired as a technician. She and Brian were discussing their pay checks one day and Brian asked if she made over $40,000.00 the year before, and she said she had. Irene told me she doesn't feel bad about working on the monkeys because they're mean and wild. She feels bad about the dogs though because they're so friendly and they'll reach up and lick your cheek even during a procedure.
In room 456, study 3316 1193M (the extra male), 3688, 4687, and 4688 are all very thin. Their ribs are evident visually and markedly evident to the touch.
In room 453, study 3321, the three pigs who were bled all squealed and hollered violently throughout the procedure. Kevin feigned jabbing the uncapped used syringe within inches of one pig's face because he was being so vocal and Kevin was in a bad mood. In room 455 the pigs were calmer and scrambled back into their cages themselves as soon as they were released. All three pigs in this room had bruised and swollen necks from having blood drawn. Before each stick Kevin would say "eany meany mini mo ..." (one side looked just as bad as the other).
In room 908, study #3274, dog number 4567 has a sore on her foot and long nails. (photos) She sits quietly and stares at me the entire time I'm in the room. I call her "Ellie." She pulls back slightly and stares suspiciously at me when I reach for her in her cage, but once reassured, she snuggles her nose into my neck. She presses into my neck so hard, I have to peel her off me to put her back in her cage.
In room 921 study 3322, all of the dogs except for 1694F have red irritated ears with dark exudate. The waxy material has a definite odour to it. Some of the dogs' ears are much worse than others. The red group, group four, especially all have very grimy afflicted ears. They were so bad I could easily dislodge some of the material with a light finger touch.

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Dog number 1193M had blood all over his cage when I went in to clean. He was splattered with blood and the walls were smeared and streaked with it. The end of his tail is raw and sore. About a quarter inch of the tail is bare and raw. The hair below the injured area partially conceals the wound. I told Kevin about it he said he had treated it yesterday with Betadine and vet bond. He was disgusted that it started bleeding again. He said it was a cut on the tail that reopens when the dog wags his tail and it hits the side of the cage.
I told him I thought maybe he had been chewing on it so I gave him a Kong toy to chew on to distract him. Kevin said he hadn't thought of that, he assumed it was a cut. There was a vet request made on October 4 and a note made today that it was still bleeding. (photos)
Dogs 1194M, 1693, and 1694 are all especially thin.
Room 906, study 3278, dog number 2054 still has an abscess on his front left foot. It is a large purple and red lump at the web of his toes. One of the males in the red group had drops of blood in his cage but I couldn't find the origin.

10/6/96 Sunday HLS
In room 456, study 3316, dogs number 1193M, 4688,4687,3688,2687, 1688 are all extremely thin.
Kevin brought dog number 1193, from room 921, into L-wing where we were waiting to bleed pigs. (This is the dog whose tail was injured and was bleeding in his cage yesterday.) He plopped him on a cart and told me to hold a wad of bloody gauze on the dog's front right foot. He said the dog's nail had come out.
Kevin went into room 455 with Dilip to collect blood samples from the pigs. Normally there are four people to collect blood, three to hold and one to bleed. I wondered how they would manage it with just the two of them. I heard a lot of clanging around and squealing and when I looked through the window I saw Dilip holding the pig and Kevin collecting the blood. Kevin came out of the room to get a new syringe and vial. When they got the next pig out I heard a lot of squealing and banging around, it continued for some time.
I heard Kevin swearing and then he came out of the room and asked if I could help them with this pig. He told me to put the dog I was holding on the floor and I think he got a new syringe. After the blood was drawn and the pig was in his cage, Dilip noticed he [the pig] was bleeding from his side. He gasped and said it was very bad. He applied pressure to it and when Kevin re-entered to bleed the next pig Dilip told him about the injury. Kevin didn't blink an eye and said it was because the pig flipped over onto the needle when he was struggling.
The dog with the injured foot became very agitated and nervous when the pigs were vocalizing. I held the dogs from groups three and four from study 3316, rooms 454 and 456, while Kathy dosed them. Dilip held groups one and two while Kevin dosed them. The dogs are being dosed with test material "alt946", the method is oral gavage (a tube is forced into the animal's stomach via the mouth and a substance is forced in with a syringe), the sponsor is Alteon, and the study is listed as "Alteon 1 mo dog gavage." Kathy had me bring the dogs to her in the hallway and place them on a three-tiered rolling cart. She asked if I had done this before. I said no and she showed me how to grasp the dog?s throat area placing my thumb and forefinger on either side of his oesophagus.

Page 14.

She told me I had to apply pressure so I could feel if the tube went down the right way. She told me I had to let her know if I could feel the tube or not. If I couldn't feel it the tube it went in the lungs and not the stomach. She shoved the tubes down the dogs' throats quickly and forced the amber- coloured test liquid in quickly. One of the two females in group three from room 454 has a lump in her throat I could feel distinctly before the tube went down.
When Kathy put the tube in I could feel it go as far as the lump and then stop. She kept jamming the tube down, ramming it against the lump in the dog's throat. I told her it was hitting a lump and that's why it wasn't going down. Kathy kept forcing it and finally it went in. When it did, the dog yelped in pain. Kathy mimicked the dog?s cry and told me to get the next dog. Kathy made several comments about Kevin dosing faster and turned it into a big joke, who could get done faster.
Several of the dogs gagged and coughed as I carried them back to their cages. The test materials are supposed to be kept in the pharmacy until they're used and returned to the pharmacy immediately afterwards. I heard one of the technicians tell another technician who was going to the pharmacy to "pick up everyone's".
When I went into room 908, study 3274, to clean. Dogs number 1067 and 2565 were looking at me through cage open cage doors.
In room 902 study 3325, the puppies are very wriggly and happy to see me but often reluctant to come close to the door once it is opened - already savvy to life in a product testing facility. When I looked at the room clipboard to see if it was all exercise day I saw the last cleaning entry was from 10/4/96. RW was assigned to clean the room on 10/5/96 but no one had initialled that it been done on Saturday. I signed the 10/6/95 line when I was through cleaning. I took photos before and after of the blank line for October 5th.
Dilip told me to clean room 920 instead of room 921 (both part of study 3322). When I went in to dump their food before I cleaned, dog number 1231 came running from the end of the room to meet me. He had apparently been loose and running around the room since Dilip fed them almost two hours before.
In study 96-3322 dog number 1264 is extremely thin. Her backbone curves high above the rest of her body and her ribs are evident. Dog number 4691 has a terrible rash all over her stomach and legs. (photos taken). I will check the observation book to see if it was noted.

Wednesday 10/9/96 HLS
There was a cardio meeting where poor QA reports and bad data from studies 95- 3592 (Anaesthetised mini-pigs, Novo Nordisk), 96-3609 (Acea 1021 in monkeys) and 96-3611 (Beacon 5 day rat study) were discussed. Two protocol deviations for 96-2467 (Organon rabbit study) need to be added to the study file.
In one study, Jennifer Fine grabbed the wrong syringe and dosed a primate with the wrong amount and strength of test material resulting in a mis-dose.
In room 917, dog number 1049 (USDA 2718201) has several sores and scars on his face and is extremely thin. He is an extra from P-65.
Cleaned study 3318, room 919, and dogs 1182 and 2180 (wrinkly face) were both, recumbent for most of the time I was in the room cleaning (almost one hour). (photos).

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These dogs seemed to be suffering from the test substance because, usually, the dogs dance around and beg for attention throughout the cleaning procedure.
Cleaned 3091, room 917 there are only seven dogs left in the extra colony. I don't know what happened to the others. Dogs number USDA number 2724081, is labelled an extra from company code P65, study 96-3320, 957 is P65 study 96-3320, 1049 is P65 study 96-3320, 1013 P65 study 96-3309, 1014M P65 study 96-3309. Other dogs not labelled with a company code are 1108, 1080, 1113, and 1067. 50% of the lights were out in room 917.
Cleaned 3274, room 908, dog number 1567 has overgrown nails. (photo of long nails and faeces.)

Thursday 10/10/96 HLS
In study 3091, room 917, dog #1049, USDA #2718201, has several sore and scars on his face and is extremely thin. He is an extra from one of the other studies. 50% of the lights in this room were turned out.
In 96-3322, room 921, dog number 1250F has a sore on her nose (photo), dog number 1193M still has a sore on his tail, dog number 2195 has spots and slept throughout the room cleaning, dog number 3193 slept throughout the cleaning, dog number 4694 has scabs on her face and bare spots. Ears and nails of all these dogs are in bad shape.
Cleaned study 3318, room 919, and dogs 1182 and 2181 were both recumbent for most of the time I was in the room cleaning (almost one hour). These dogs seem very ill from the test substance because normally the dogs dance around and bark for attention when I'm in the room cleaning.
Study 3278, room 906, all the dogs need their nails trimmed.
Rachel told me there was a study that just finished which required dogs to be dosed with seven capsules each, and the capsules were [she showed me with her fingers] approximately 2-3 inches in length. She said they didn't like it at first but they got used to it. It was study 3254, listed on Foxtyme (the timesheet) as "Asahi Denko dog 13 week capsule".

Saturday 10/12/96 HLS
Study 3316 rooms 454 and 456. In room 456, dog number 3688 is extremely thin. Study 3321 rooms 451, 455, and 457. In room 457, there is a pig with red hair, number 57M (2446). He loves to be scratched and petted. When I let him out of his cage so I can clean it he follows me around and sniffs at my ankles. When I scratch his ears he groans and presses close. If I scratch his side, his knees buckle and he sinks to the floor. He rolls over so all of him can be scratched.
In study 95-3274, room 908, dog number 4567 - good picture. Dogs number 2567, 2568, 2067, and 2068 are in smaller cages than the rest. Dog number 3567 lays with her stomach up wanting to be loved. Need nails trimmed.

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In room 921, study 3322, dog number 1193's tail looks much worse and he chewed on it almost continually while I was in the room cleaning. (photo) Dog number 4694 still has several sores on her face. (4194 photo) Dog number 2694 defecated as soon as I put her in her cage. Before I could clean it up she ate it. All of the dogs need their nails trimmed. Still had sore ears with a lot of dark exudate.
3278, 904 dog number 2550F still has a very inflamed ear full of rash and sores. (photos) All of the dogs have very long nails. The observation book for room 904 notes the rash on 2550F and on August 21st, reads "rash will no longer be noted on daily observation but will be noted at physical." All of the dogs in rooms 904 and 906 need their nails trimmed (photo). 906 dog number 3555 red granules in bottom of cage - collected for testing (1 think they're from the Kong toy in her cage.)
Dog number 1055, I call him "Joseph" and "Joey", is very stoic. He stands quietly in his cage and when I reach for him to put him in the exercise cage, he braces his feet and puts his head down. Sometimes, he peers up at me, wondering what I'll do to him. Rooms 904, 906, and 908 all had blocked drains (photo). I put a work order in, for rooms 904, 906 and 908, to security so they could notify maintenance on Saturday to fix the drains. Lisa told security it could well be an emergency and a real mess by Sunday if they weren't fixed. The troughs in all of these rooms were filled to overflowing with standing water loaded with faeces and old feed. The rooms smelled strongly of faeces.

10/13/96 Sunday HLS
Rooms 906, 908, 910, 916, 920, and 921 all had 50% of the lights turned out. In room 454 dogs number 2187, 2685, 2686, and 1684 are all very thin. 4685 (photo)
There was a glass blood collection tube lying in the bottom of the 'extra' male dog's cage. The tube was hand labelled 2685.
In room 456 dogs number 3688, 4688, and 4687 are all very thin.
Stephanie taped a sacrifice order on the door of room 454 and room 456 while I was cleaning. The dogs in room 454, just 7 months old are scheduled to die on Monday, October 14, and the dogs in room 456, also 7 months old are scheduled to die on Tuesday October 15. (hard copy available).
Rooms 902, 904, 906, 908, and 910 all had blocked drains. I put a work order in for rooms 904, 906 and 908 in to security so they could notify maintenance on Saturday and they were still not fixed by 4:00pm today. The troughs in all of these rooms were filled to overflowing with standing water loaded with faeces and old feed. The rooms smelled strongly of faeces.

10/16/96 Wednesday HLS
In room 906, dog number 2054, the one who howls after being returned to his cage has extremely long nails. One on the left rear foot is curling under and into his pad. Everyday I work, someone comments on how cute these puppies are in study 3325. Stephanie and Lynn have both said, "It's hard to get anything else done, they're so cute I just want to play with them all the time." I never know what to say in response to this because usually the other things they have to get done involve causing pain to other dogs, whom, apparently they consider less cute.

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Study 96-3309 is an apomorphine study. The dogs are given the test material intravenously. These dogs need their nails trimmed badly.
I had to prep the surgery suite for practice surgeries. Dogs from the 'extra' colony will be used so the cardio team can practice implanting femoral catheters.
In study 96-3322, Nick and Kevin were bleeding dogs in the hallway outside of room 920 when I went into clean. I asked if I could go in to clean and Kevin told me I could do anything I wanted to in that room. I could clean, I could shoot them, I could do what ever I wanted. I asked if the dogs had given them a hard time with what they had to do. Nick said they had been very bad and Kevin agreed. He said they had tried to bite them.
Then Nick said if I go in and see any dogs walking funny and not able to hold their heads up not to worry - it was because Kevin had to hold them down and keep them in line. Kevin said he had to clothesline one of them at one point. I went in to clean and the first dog I picked up was 1264, a female extra. She is extremely thin and when I opened the cage door she had to drag herself to the door. When I picked her up and put her in the exercise cage she didn't move at all and her back-end collapsed under her. I put in the other female extra and 1264 just huddled in the corner and didn't play. The other female extra seemed very quiet, too, but not as much as 1264.
I went and told Kevin. When he saw me he said, "A dog's bleeding all over right?" I said "No, but 1264 is having trouble walking." He came into the room. While he held the other extra, he tossed 1264 into the back corner of the cage several times. Each time she hobbled forward toward the open door. He said she was fine and left the room. I put the dog on the floor to walk and she could not walk normally.
Dog number 4691 has a horrible rash all over abdomen, feet ears and face. Her ears are swollen and she is missing hair on and around them. 1255 is extremely thin. 469011 has a huge amount of black exudate in her ear. Most of the dogs have very dirty smelly ears full of exudate. I easily dislodged some with just a light finger touch and put it on paper. Several hours later it still has a foul odour. 2692 had drops of blood in his cage.
There was blood smeared on the floor when I entered the room. When I told Kevin about #4691's rash he told me not to worry about it. When I voiced my concern over how bad it looked he told me he thought someone already knew and told me again not to worry about it.
Rooms 902, 908, 916, and 922 all had 50% of the lights turned out. I asked some of the technicians why half of the lights are always turned out and I was told it was just not necessary to have them on.
In study 93-3091, while I was cleaning the 'extra' colony, Yao came in and took out female 1067, then came and got male 1013. I had just finished cleaning 1067's cage and she was still in the exercise cage playing with one of the other females. Yao took her out and carried her down the hall to the surgical suite where she was scheduled to undergo the non-survival surgery. Yao, Irene, Mahsa, and Jennifer were practicing femoral catheters. Al acted as supervisor during the practice session.
Male 1013 also got a chance to play one last time with one of the other males before Yao came to get him.

Page 18.

When I went into the surgery suite, Yao and Irene were getting ready to intubate number 1013. Irene talked Yao through the procedure. He was completely unsure of how to proceed and questioned Irene about getting the tube in the right place. They had given the dog a pre anaesthetic 'cocktail' of Ketarnine, xylazine, and acepromezine. Irene told me they usually use Penathol but it was very expensive and these were just practice surgeries so they used the cocktail mixture.
They had the beagle's head in an anaesthesia mask when I entered I was told the cocktail hadn't relaxed him enough. Jennifer and Mahsa had already started practicing on 1067. Jennifer cut into the artery and blood sprayed all over her face. Al, the supervisor, immediately tried to sponge off Jennifer's face - she said loudly "Don't worry about me! Attend to the dog - do I have the vessel clamped off or not?" After Jennifer had the catheter in the vein, she pushed a long metal tube, called a trocar, up under the dog's skin starting from the incision she had made on her inner leg along her side and eventually forced it out through a small cut she had made near her shoulder.
As she was doing this, the dog started coughing and gagging and Jennifer yelled, "She's waking up." Al held the dog's mouth shut around the tube and turned the gas up. It took several minutes for 1067 to reach a surgical level of anaesthesia again and, in fact, I'm not sure if she ever did. I was told the dog's CO2 rate shown on the monitor should be between 40 and 50 and the heart rate should be around 10-15. When they're awake, Irene said the heart rate's around 50. When I looked at the monitor when 1067 woke up it was in the 40's and her CO2 rate was between 10 and 20.
Throughout the rest of the surgery her CO2 level stayed in the 30's and her heart rate stayed in the 20's. When Irene pushed the metal tube under the skin of the male dog his CO2 rate dropped dramatically from 43 to the teens and his heart rate shot up from 14 to the 30's. I pointed it out to Irene who called for Al. He re-inflated the cuff on the tube and turned the flow of anaesthesia up. It took several minutes to ascertain whether there was a leak in the system or what. Al eventually decided Yao had not inflated the cuff enough.
He showed me how to check the dog's jaw for tension and the capillary refill response to see of they were out or not. I thought the dog's jaw had some tension in it and he was twitching periodically. Al said it was all right, that he was deep enough for what they were doing today but wouldn't be if they were doing a more invasive procedure. I noticed both dogs woke up when the metal tube was rammed up under their skin. After the procedures were done and Al critiqued each catheter Jennifer gave them sodium pentobarbital via an IV in their arm.
Several times throughout the set-up for surgery and the actual procedure I was told, "normally we would do [this]" or "use [this]" or "make sure of [this] but this is just practice..." One of the four dogs in room 910 is scheduled to die tomorrow. There is a sign up to fast them and the sacrifice order is taped to the door. The company code is Z-05, Zonagen Pharmacy.

10/17/96 Thursday HLS
Changed cages all day.
In room 906, dog number 2054, the one who howls after being returned to his cage, has extremely long nails. One on the left rear foot is curling under and into his pad. Dog number 3055 has an abscess on his front left foot. Dog number 3555 threw up stringy- mucous bile after I returned her to her cage after cleaning.

Page 19.

I saw a necropsy being done in the room across from 906. When I looked through the door I saw a beagle soaked in blood partially skinned. A man was using a circular saw or drill to cut through the dog's skull. The skin on the dog's face and head was completely peeled off. One of the maintenance guys was standing in the room talking to the guy doing the necropsy while he was working. The maintenance man didn't have any protective clothing on.
Rachel was asking Eleanor what to do about prepping a room for the dogs in 910. She needs that room for a new study and wants to move them across the hall to 909. Eleanor told her to "Just give the room prep sheet to one of the maintenance guys, tell him some story about it being an emergency and ask to move the dogs and they'll take the sheet of paper around the comer, sign it and bring it back, and tell you it's all ready." Eleanor said, "That's what they did for me" and referenced a recent study she had needed a room, for at the last minute. She said "I handed [she named the maintenance person] the paper and told him what I needed, I walked around the comer and a second later he came around the comer and handed me the paperwork and told me I was all set."

Saturday 10/19/96 HLS
In room 921, 1193's cage is still full of blood from his tail. The wound on his tail looks like it's healing though the tissue is all dark and possibly necrotic. 1250 is extremely thin and still has a wound on her nose. (4695 - good photos), 4195 has a sore in his inner ear on the side of his ear-tag and dark exudate in both ears. 4193, 4194, 4195, 4693, 4694, 4695 all have very dirty sore ears with a lot of dark exudate, which has a definite odour.
Most of the dogs in this room have a lot of exudate in their ears similar to that which is called otitis or ear infection at the vet's office and treated with ointment. 4694 has sores on her face and toes. 2195 has a sore on his nose. 1693 is very thin. Several of the dogs had thrown up today in their cages. Study 95-3278, dogs need their nails trimmed (photo of dog #2054). The dogs in room 910 are now in room 909.
There are four dogs in jackets and tethers in the room across from surgery. They were operated on Friday and will be used to demonstrate infusion set-ups to a company touring on the 24th. Extras 1080, 1049, 1113, 1018?? were used. They have femoral catheters in jackets and doughnuts around their necks and infusion pumps hanging on their cages.
The puppies in 902 have shaved necks and some have scratches and scabs on their necks. Chevron will be visiting on October 21st to review data from a current study, observe dosing and examine personnel records.
Several of the dogs in 3274 had vomited when I went in to clean. The high dose groups particularly almost always have vomit in their cages.

10/20/96 Sunday HLS
In study 3274, I round a capsule in 2565's cage, 4066 had diarrhoea, and 4567 had a lot of vomit in her cage.

Page 20.

In room 921, study 96-3322, 1250 has a sore on her nose, an infection at tag site and dark exudate in her ears. 1219, 1695, 1694 all have infection at the tag site and dark exudate in their ears. 1193 has dirty infected ears and a sore on his tail. 2195 had very loose stool today. All of the dogs except for one "of the males in the green dosage group have exudate in their ears and slight infections at the tag site. 3693 and 3695 have site infections, 3694 has a very bad site infection, 3193, 3194, 3195 all have dark exudate in their ears. All these dogs need their nails trimmed.

10/23/96 Wednesday HLS
Lynn trained me to ob in 3318 and 3309. She told me to check the room from the outside to observe any missing lights, loose dogs etc., check the temp and record it, the date and time. In the room, check the pan and the dog from outside the cage. She said physicals are given each week so just write what you see from outside the cage. RH (humidity) readings are taken during the morning obs, and she said to just take one reading.
In room 917, 93-3091, the extra colony, dog number 1062 is getting 600 grams of food as per vet request to increase his weight. Terry Kusznir, the veterinarian, recorded his condition as "emaciated" after a vet request was put in. Irene trained me to ob today. She said, "Don't record unformed stool unless it's more than half [of what's in the pan]."
My supervisor, Gene and I went to the 'recognizing pain in lab animals' meeting, taught by Terry Kusznir, the vet. Terry said we were all there because IACUC said we HAD to be there and she'd make it as short as possible.
Terry told us there are five states an, animal can be in:
(1)Is "ideal" - comfort and well-being, which means an absence of stress. She emphasized that this state does not translate to "joy", saying we would "never see that here" [in the lab], nor would we expect it. She told us indicators of well being are behavioural, physiological (temperature, heart rate, etc), and biochemical.
(2)Discomfort - minimal change i.e., bleeding -short term state.
(3)Stress - effects produced by external factors. (4)Distress - aversive state leading to maladaptive actions i.e., circling is a sign of stress in rodents, masturbation, chewing [self-mutilation], and eating faeces are all examples of manifestations of stress.
(5)Pain - causes of pain - disease, injury, pain. Terry said if something is inflamed and swollen it hurts, if disease is present - tissue injury - it hurts, surgery is another cause of pain.
Rabbits grind their teeth if they're in abdominal pain. She said observing the animal's behaviour is very important because "Monkeys won't show pain until five minutes before they die and by the time I'm notified, you should have called me an hour ago." Gene was very surprised by this information and expressed his wonder about the information, saying he never knew that. Terry said because monkeys are wild animals they mask their pain and illness so they don't fall prey to a natural predator.
Gene has told me several stories about working with animals in research for many years and it seems this information about monkeys masking pain and illness would be one of the first things a researcher would know. Terry said rats circle in their cages when in pain and produce more red exudates from their eyes [there is a technical term for this - chromodacryorrhea.] She told us "Don't euthanase unless you know how." [She's] " ...seen a freezer full of cannibalised animals more than once and it's not pretty." She advised us to know what we're looking for when doing viability checks - ask what the test material is. She said we should call the sponsor to find out what the test material is, or have the study director call.

Page 21.

Kathy trained me to "ob" (observe) the pigs in L-wing, Bristol Myers Squibb study 3321. She said, "If the pig is alive it's fine - if it's dead it's not. That's all there is to ebbing pigs." She said I'll find out she does things "the Kathy way."
I asked Kathy about the two water bowls in each cage in Colgate Palmolive study 95- 3278 (she is the primary technician for that study). I asked her if I was supposed to be filling the second with water or what. She told me it doesn't matter. I told her I noticed sometimes they were filled and sometimes they weren't and I wasn't sure if I should just go ahead and fill them each time I cleaned. She waved my question away again and said, "It doesn't matter. They had some bad pre-test results and the study was delayed and the water bowl was added to the protocol. Don't worry about it, it doesn't matter."
When we got back to the tech room Eleanor asked if she would train Nick - he's getting his own study. (a Parke-Davis primate study.) In the tech room there was talk of bad data from Stephanie's study 3316. The one-month oral gavage study in rooms 454 and 456.

10/24/96 Thursday HLS
Lynn trained me to ob in 3318, room 920, I noted some unformed stool and RVD (red vaginal discharge). Lynn told me we are not allowed to say blood we can only say exudate. I asked why she said maybe they don't think we're qualified to know blood when we see it. (this from someone who draws blood and doses animals regularly).
Jennifer trained me to ob in 3091. Dog number 1062 is getting extra food as per vet request because he is thin. Jennifer told me not to record unformed stool unless it's more than half of the stool present.
We had a cardio meeting and Gene said a company Molecular Bionetics(?) wants to run a study testing a drug they've made. Gene told us "They want to prove how safe their drug is and it's so safe they can't determine a toxic dose." University of ? tried to find a toxic level but the substance is in tiny capsules and the stuff floats. This caused rats in a study they did to die of lung congestion within five minutes. He said we have to figure out a way to stir the solution as it is administered via catheter into the dog.
He said we'll practice on the dogs we already have set up with femoral catheters. (Four dogs had femoral catheters implanted and infusion pumps set up just to show this sponsor." Gene said, "The guy didn't even want to go in the room, he just looked through the door." In the test material, 5% of the capsules are 10?? and will clog vessels, which is an unavoidable part of the manufacture. Useful for ?? The company wants to be able to market their product everywhere so they want to follow Japanese testing guidelines.
There is a lot of talk about safety pharmaceutical. There is a mouse study starting, for Colgate-Palmolive. Brian told me about a former employee who was always high at work. He took a rat rack to cage washing, ready to be run through the automatic cage washer. Marilyn wheeled it down to Terry's office to show her - the rack still had rats on one side of it. He said it happens sometimes, and rats aren't too pretty after they've been run through the cage washer.
In 3318 (Amgen), room 918 (Eleanor wrote the schedule wrong, she put study number 3318 down with rooms 920 and 921. She had Dilip and Nick clean 920 and 921 late in the day.

Page 22.

I checked with Henry, who checked with Eleanor and the study number was the correct thing to go by.) After Lynn and I obbed it, I cleaned room 918. I went to transfer the first group four dogs to the exercise cage and noticed she was twitching. She seemed disoriented and acted as if she couldn't see.
Every few seconds her head would jerk violently to the side. I put her in the exercise cage alone and went to tell Walter (the other large animal supervisor). He looked at her and said "It wasn't' good." In the exercise cage she was 'paddling' her feet and walking into the cage door as if it weren't there or she couldn't tell her feet to stop walking. She continued to twitch and jerk.
When I tried to look at her she pulled and jerked away. Walt said later we would fill out a vet request but the problem was he didn't think she (the vet) was here today. He said it wasn't good. I put her back in her cage and she twitched and seized for about 20 more minutes. When I put her in her cage her front feet went underneath her and she fell on her face. About an hour later Walt and Terry were walking into 918. Walt told me to come in - they were going to check out my dog.
I watched Terry examine her. She held her front legs firmly for several seconds and with Walt's help looked at her eyes and mouth. The examination took just a few seconds. When we went into the hall Walt said "It was much worse before. That's not what we saw." Terry asked if it was twitching or was it just shaking. I told her it was definite twitches and jerks every couple of seconds, paddling - walking forward without stopping.
She said, "The test material is an agent to thicken blood. It increases the red blood cell count, which is why a lot of the dogs in the room have real red eyes and mouths. It's 'Erythropoietin' and normally the numbers would be in the 50-60 range and an anaemic person would have a 20-30 range (this is who this drug would help) and these dogs are at the 70-80 range. It's thickening their blood so much its actually sledging up in the veins and collecting places and what [I] could have seen was that happening and causing a seizure." She said, "We'll be seeing a lot more of it for sure."
Terry wrote up the vet request and told me I could read it. It said "...slight tremors. No further action... Call if condition worsens." (this is the study Kevin and Bob were talking about in which blood collects and bones dislocate, rats urinating blood and dying.)
I noticed dog #4180 was twitching. Dog #1682 had no access to water when I cleaned. The water line was not connected properly.
There was a memo from Walter stating the extra colony primates would have a humidifier installed "Due to large number of monkeys suffering from bloody noses..."

10/26/96 Saturday HLS
In room 908, study 3274, I found an intact capsule about one inch long in the bottom or 4067'5 (USDA 2633311 colony 702) cage. The capsule contains a dark substance. The dosage chart and protocol list the substance as cycloprothrin.
In room 921, in 4194's cage I found a capsule that is about 1/2 inch in length and appears empty but for a drop of fluid. 4195 has a very sore and inflamed dirty ear (photo). 4694 has very dirty ears full of dark foul smelling exudate. I cultured the right ear in a sterile culture tube. 1250F is very thin. All or the dogs need their nails trimmed.
B/W concealed video of 3325, 451, 453, 3274, 3322, 3278.

Page 23.

In room 906, the second male in the green group, number 2054, had very bloody watery diarrhoea all over his cage (photo).
Photos in 922 - 3rd room from double doors (956).

10/27/96 Sunday HLS
In 902, study 3325, Lynn trained me to observe. Several of the dogs have unformed stool. Lynn told me to record it if any of it is unformed. Irene told me to only report if it's over half unformed and Cesair told me to only report it if it's almost all unformed. (Dog number 1701F photos on food-bowl, 2201M photo - striped face.) 2700 has sores on her nose. I pointed it out to Lynn when I obbed. She told me not to record it because they're scabbing over.
She thinks they happen when "they slam the cage door on their heads instead of taking the time to push them in before closing the door." 3701M has sores on his head, 4701M has a sore on his tail that looks exactly like the one 1193M in 921 has on his tail. It's bleeding enough to turn the end of his tail red and the tip of it is raw and jagged. There are no clearly defined borders as if it were a cut. Lynn said it may have gotten caught in the door. She referenced to 1193 "His has been going on for a month and we put vet-bond on it and he keeps chewing it off." 5900F has an extremely red mouth.
In room 921 1193 still has a raw tail (photos) 4195 has a very inflamed ear. 4695 is very dirty and sad looking (photo), 1250 is extremely thin, 2195 still has an open sore on his nose. The dogs need their nails trimmed.
The dogs in study 3274, room 908 need their nails trimmed.
The dogs in rooms 904 and 906 need their nails trimmed. I saw a vet request in one of the ob books that one of the dogs had a nail torn out and it was bandaged for two days. The nail is still lying on the shelf above the sink in room 904.
(B/W concealed video of room 956 - monkeys, 953 catheter dogs, 904, 906, and 918, 919.)
E-mail: Client visits this week - Bio Star, monkeys suffering from bloody noses so humidifier will be installed in 922, information on new exterminator.

10/29/96 Tuesday HLS
I went in to help hold pigs for blood drawing. Kevin drew the blood, Nick, Dilip and I held them. The pigs were all sleeping when we went in, sometimes they had to be nudged to get up only to be hauled out by one leg and flipped upside down, stretched out and stuck. One of the pigs had a thrombosis and Kevin said "That's Kathy! It's all in how you stick 'em."
One or the pigs has a chronic problem with his penis hanging out, it gets dried out and he's not able to retract it. Then it becomes infected. One day in the tech room someone mentioned to Terry, the vet that it was hanging out again. She asked Kevin if he could stick it back in the next time he was over there, not to make a special trip but just the next time he was over there. Kevin groaned and said "You know I almost lost two techs last time! They almost puked when all that pus came out." When he squeezed the pus out tonight Nick ran from the room and made a big deal out of it. Kevin put KY jelly on the penis and then slipped it back inside the prepuce.

Page 24.

Then he drained the pus out - which shot out everywhere and had a very foul smell. This was done after the pig was bled. The pig cried and screamed when Kevin drained the abscess of pus.
The pigs protest violently when they're bled. They struggle and scream throughout the procedure.

10/30/96 Wednesday HLS
Lynn trained me to ob in 3318 again. Several of the dogs had unformed stool and one had vomited. Dog number 2550 had a very red muzzle and I asked Lynn if I should record it. She looked at it and said there were no open sores so I shouldn't. (I really don't understand this. Aren't they supposed to be looking for allergic reactions and anything that's even a little unusual?)
Dog number 4550 in room 906, study 3278 ate her faeces. This is not at all unusual. I've seen this in every dog room I've been in. At the meeting Terry taught, Recognizing Pain in Lab Animals, she said coprophagia is a sign of stress.
The dogs in study 3318 need their nails trimmed.
Jennifer trained me to ob in 3093, the extra monkey colony - room 922. She said several of the monkeys had been having bloody noses from the lack of humidity, despite the humidifier. One of the first monkeys had clear exudate from both nostrils. One of the females had blood in her faeces. Jennifer told me to record it as RVD. I pointed out that the blood was clearly part of the faeces and not just something different that landed on it afterwards. She said it was probably RVD because it was a female and I should record it as RVD. One of the monkeys on the top at the end of the right side had red exudate from both nostrils.
Jennifer told me one of the males sucked on his penis so much now it just hangs out all the time. She pointed it out to me.
Most of the primates have two padlocks on their cages. I tried to put a kong toy inside one primate's cage and couldn't because of the excessive locks.
Jennifer told me they know when you're done cleaning they get treats and as soon as you put the hose away they start chattering and getting excited. They did exactly what she said they would. As soon as I turned the water off they started chattering and howling, but I couldn't treat them because they were scheduled for bloods and bodyweights and were being fasted. I took several photos in room 922.
Lynn trained me to ob 3278. Several of the dogs had unformed stool. They need their nails trimmed badly.

10/31/96 Thursday HLS
Lynn trained me to ob 3318. She said Eleanor should have me ob in 3274 so I could see some vomit (and get used to obbing that). The test material in 3274 makes the dogs so sick the ob book has a note on it to remind people to record the degree of vomit - mild, moderate, severe.

Page 25.

I questioned her about the red muzzle allergic reaction thing and she said she had never seen it before [...so she doesn't look ????] I asked if there was a space on the ob chart to record it. She said we would have to write it in under 'other'.
It's my responsibility to go through the surgical suite and pull expired drugs. There was a roll of catheter tubing that expired in 1994, and some catheters that expired in June '96. I also found 2 boxes of sutures that expired in May of 95. I gave them to Gene who said it was a shame they were stamped because it was stuff that didn't go bad it's just the FDA requires expiration dates on things used in people and animals. I asked what I should do with these items he said "Just leave them with me I'll find a use for them."
I spoke to Rich, one of the guys who does necropsies. He said there are around 130 dogs scheduled to be sacrificed in December.
Kathy trained me to ob in 3321, she said either the pigs are up or they're not - that's all that can be wrong with them. They all were marked WNL. When I was cleaning I noticed SM has a cut on his snout that is scabbed over with dried blood. I told Kathy about it and asked if I should record it or tell whoever was doing PM obs so they could record. She said "NO! Don't ob anything like that unless it needs a vet request." [This makes no sense - things like that are the reason for obs right???!!!!]
She said 12 of the pigs would be saved and not sacrificed at the end of the month. BMS is going to run another study using them. She doubted they'd be accurate but told me EMS thinks they'll be washed by then and will be clean enough to use. (meaning EMS believes the test material they've been getting will be washed out of their systems by then and won't affect the new study.)

11/2/96 Saturday HLS
The dogs in rooms 919 (3318), 908 (3274), 921 (3322), 904 and 906 (3278) all need their nails trimmed.
Brian trained me to ob in 3325. Dog number 1701F had blood in her cage. I wrote, as I've been instructed "Red exudate in bottom of cage. No apparent source." Brian told me to write in above it "small amount of ..." While I was cleaning, l70lF had a bowel movement and I could see a lot of blood in the faeces. One piece of faeces was lying in a big pool of bright red blood. I told Kevin about it as he was going in to feed. He told me the usual line - "It's normal for puppies to have blood in their faeces.
1319F had water spraying all over her cage from the water nozzle. Two separate streams of water were spraying inside the cage continuously making half of the cage wet. I filled out a maintenance form.
(photos 2201M stripe on face, 1318F big eyes,) 420lM has a sore on his leg - his tail is healing. His kong toy, along with 1201's, and 3700's, was stuck under the grate where the dogs couldn't reach them. Nick had cleaned the room on Friday.

Page 26.

In room 919, study 3318, dog number 2180F fell from her cage after the door came open when another cage door hit it. This happens quite often. Need nails trimmed.
In room 451, study 3321, Pig number 8M has a sore or cut on the top of his snout. Pig number 1M has a very bad infection at his tag site. The round tag is surrounded by pus, scabs and dried blood (photos).
In 3274 (Nippon), (photos 4567F - "Ellie", 4066 - vomit,) 4067, 4066, 4567 had large amounts of vomit in their cages. 2068, 3065 3066 all had unformed stool (will check to see if it was obbed - the stool was extremely runny and there was lots of it in varying degrees of freshness so it would have been there for AM obs.) 4068 was not very active, 4067 was not very active. Need nails trimmed.
In room 921, 4195 still has an infected oozing sore in his ear. Both ears are very dirty and full of dark foul smelling material. The ear with the sore also has a wet, tan- coloured material filling the ear canal.
All of the dogs in the high dosage (red) group have foul smelling dirty ears that are infected. The other groups have it too but the red look the worst.
In 906,205-1 had an intact capsule in he bottom of his cage. It was a medium sized gelatin capsule with a thick very light amber coloured or clear gel inside. 305SM has a big swollen sore on his left front foot. I obbed it and Kevin had me write interdigital swelling between 3rd and 4th digits on left front [paw] I wrote foot and he told me next time write paw. Need nails trimmed. Everyone who's trained me to ob has told me different things about obbing faeces - Kevin had me write down one dog only because she had a small runny puddle of faeces - the rest of the stool was normal. Brian told me not to write down things like that. Most people tell me not to write down anything unless it's severe enough to warrant a vet request. Everyone tells me it's best to be as vague as possible when writing anything down. If it gets too specific, that's when QA and other monitoring agencies start questioning things and it's hard to explain them away if it's specific.

11/3/96 Sunday HLS
The dogs in rooms 919 (3318), 908 (3274), 921 (3322), 904 and 906 (3278) all need their nails trimmed.
When I went in to clean study 3325, room 902, the garbage can was pushed up against 1313M's cage and he had ripped off several pieces of plastic from the liner. Several chunks were lying in his cage and in front of it. [PHOTO]
In 3321,451, SM still had a sore on his nose and IM's site infection didn't look any better. In 921, 2694F had a bowel movement in her clean cage and before I could clean it up, she ate it.
In 906, 4055 was extremely lethargic he couldn't put his feet out fast enough when I put him in his cage and he stumbled. 4555 has extremely long nails {photo), 3055'5 interdigital swelling has abscessed and it is now oozing bloody pus.

Page 27.

1055 has two broken nail on his front paw. All the dogs need their nails trimmed badly - some of the dogs' nails are starting to curl around under their pads.
Study 2489, is a new Colgate Palmolive study being conducted as a two week pharmacokinetic pilot study. The test material is 'triclosan'. It will be administered to 100 mice through feed for two weeks. Their plasma levels will be checked - blood being drawn from 'retro orbital sinus from lightly anaesthetized animals.'

11/6/96 Wednesday HLS
Ebbed and changed cages in 3325. The dogs are very curious and excited on cage changing day. They bark and dance in their cages and stick their noses and feet through the bars of their cages. Often they'll push their whole heads out through the food-bowl slot because the bowls are taken out and not yet replaced. They look up and down the hallway as far as they can.
When the cages are dragged by they have to pull their head and feet in quickly or they get crushed between the cages. The halls are very narrow and when the dirty cages are pulled past the row of clean cages holding the dogs, they inevitably bang up against each other. The first male puppy, 2700M, got something pinched, either his feet or his head when the first cage was pulled by. He screamed and cried for several seconds.
Kathy and I held dogs from study 3318 (rooms 918, 919) while Lisa dosed them. The test material is a human blood antigen that makes the dogs violently ill. Normally, the vet has to be on hand to give them epinephrin (see hand written notes in dose book). Just group five was dosed today. The test material is given intravenously in either the right or left foreleg.
Only one of the dogs had to be given a shot of epinephrine because he started having an allergic reaction. Lisa checked to see if their ears were getting red or their gums and if they looked ok to her she would say they could go back. The dog Kathy held took an extremely long time to quit bleeding after the dose.
At lunch Walt, Lisa, Stephanie, and Irene were talking about Yao mis-dosing a dog in 3322 this morning. He gave a group four capsule to a group two dog. When he realized his error. He left to tell the study director. Lisa called him back and told Yao to tell Walter instead. Then, Walt, as the supervisor told Carol Auletta. Apparently this might lead to new sops in dosing. I asked if human 'error was factored into the data and final results when studies were set up.
They all laughed and said "No! There's no such thing [as human error]." They talked about Jennifer mis-dosing primates. Kevin reached for the group four syringes and they were gone. Walt said it was bad enough that a low dose animal got a high dose but the consent actions were different from group to group so it wasn't just a higher amount it was a different concentration. In other words, there's no making up for it if a low dose animal got the high dose.
11/7/96 Thursday HLS
Obbed and cleaned 3325.
Held dogs from 3322 (Ligand Pharm. -rooms 920 and 921) for ECG's. Lynn ran the blood pressure machine and Lisa operated the ECG machine. Gene told me the company pays to have them taken but they may not ever have them read and analysed.

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The dogs are brought to a room that is supposed to be somewhat quiet and held down on their right side on top of a rolling cart. If they struggle, the technicians edge them closer to the edge of the cart so their legs and part of their bodies are hanging off - I guess fear of falling keeps them from further struggling. If they do continue to struggle at this point, they do fall. It was my job to hold the dogs' legs apart and off the cart.
One dog continued to struggle causing the cart to roll away, leaving the dog suspended by his legs in my hands. Metal alligator, that are often rusty, are pinched onto the skin oil each leg, two on the chest and one on the dog's back. The dogs definitely feel the pinch of the clips. Lisa told me she'd like to develop a plastic clip that wouldn't hurt them so much. The clips are tight enough to leave marks on the skin. If the clip won't stay on, they shave the hair in that area. I've seen some of dogs have bald patches after ECG's that are nowhere near where the clips should be placed.
I read the sop afterwards and there were some discrepancies. The number one and two chest clips were placed underneath the dog directly on the cart. The sop's state the wires should not touch each other or the cart. The placement of the clips was slightly different on each dog and when Lisa and Lynn questioned each other about the placement being above or below certain sites, they each said they've seen it both ways.
The dogs' tails are shaved for the blood pressure. Three readings are taken from that while the ECG is run. Two readings are taken for that and a copy ran. Dr. Rubin was their today examining eyes. Prior to his arrival Lynn 'dropped' the dogs eyes with something that lasts three to four hours. The sponsors were there. One flew in from California to see the ophthalmologist read eyes. Carol, the study director, was escorting the representatives from Ligand pharmacy.
Lynn and Lisa told me the dogs are expected to have vision problems as a result of the test material. They also have rashes and ear infections from the test material. Lynn commented on one of the dogs from group two having very dirty ears and Lisa said "Wait until you see group four's. They're really bad." The dogs were progressively quieter for the ECG's. I don't know if they were suffering from the effects of the eye drops or dosing material or the stress of having three technicians, the study director, two to four sponsor representatives and the ophthalmologist in the room with the lights turned out looking at their eyes.
This activity seems quite stressful prior to an ECG. Six pages of tracings are required for dogs and three for primates. The primates are strapped onto an ECG board with Velcro bands. Kevin told Eleanor later that one of the sponsors was not pleased with the way the rashes were being recorded. All of them were obbed during weekly physicals as 'extreme' and he thought they should be rated as moderate, extreme, etc... Eleanor said, "Did you tell him it's Artemis?" Kevin said he did. Artemis is the computer program the information is entered in and apparently it's not specific enough to be valuable in this instance.
While I was in 920, Carol took me aside and asked quietly if I knew which dog had been mis-dosed the day before. I didn't.
I saw one of the rodent tox people tattooing mice for study 2478, the Colgate study. The mice are placed under a little glass jar hooked to C02 and their tails are stretched out outside the jar. The person tattooing holds the base of the tail down and starts tattooing. I only watched a couple of mice being tattooed and saw them each squirming and nailing in the jar trying to get away. They were each very still in the jar before the tattooing started, but once the tattoo needle connected with their flesh, they went crazy, obviously feeling pain.

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I watched Yao do a practice surgery on a rat from the extra colony. The rat was anaesthetized with isoflurane gas. Yao put femoral catheters in both sides of the rat and when he was though he said he had to euthanize it and there were a couple of ways to do it - Co2, dislocate the vertebrae, or sever an artery. He looked at the clock and said vertebra dislocation was quickest and he took the rat's nose from the anaesthesia cone and pulled up on her head, tugging it away from the rest of her body. He said she was still breathing so he did it again.
He tried a third time and still she was taking deep breaths. He said he would try another way - one that would surely work. He went into the prep area and came back with a large scissors. He cut open the little rat's stomach and snipped her backbone. Then he jammed the scissors up into the thoracic cavity and snipped randomly severing her aorta. He put down the bloody scissors and said she was dead now.

11/9/96 Saturday HLS
In 3325, 1701F still has blood in her faeces. 1304M had a one-inch scrape on his leg when he came out of the exercise cage - the rungs are broken in several places. 1318F had blood splattered all over her cage from a broken toenail (after the exercise cage). 2700 F still has a scabbed over sore on her head that seems to get bigger but is always scabbed over. 3200 still has a scab on his head.
1327 jumped out of the exercise cage when I opened the door. She appeared to be all right but it's not rare for the dogs to jump out of the upper cages. The portable exercise cages are particularly dangerous because you can't secure one dog in half of the cage and safely transport them one at a time. When the door opens both dogs are right at the edge and you have to move quickly to grab one and shut the door before the other one jumps.
I think a lot of the mysterious limps recorded are from cage trauma, either jumping or being dragged from the cage when a leg is trapped in a broken spot, or having the door slammed on a leg. The last male in the high dosage red group has blood on his tail again from chewing on it. When I looked, I saw the end of his tail is raw and bleeding.
I told Brian about the cut on 1304's leg and he said don't worry about it. I said I thought it might be all right but was concerned about dirt and bacteria causing it to become infected. He asked how big it was. I told him and showed him with my fingers, measuring about an inch long. He told me "Don't worry about it. Pretty much anymore we don't record anything that doesn't require vet attention."
In 919 the dogs need their nails trimmed. They are very full of energy adult-like dogs. They jump all over and are so strong initially but they tire easily. 2180 sits in the corner of his cage a lot. Most of the dogs have red muzzles and eyes. (4568?) The first red group male on the bottom is very loving. He'd rather cling to me while I clean than run the length of the room and play. Every time I bend over, he's right in my face, begging to be held and snuggled. If I ignore him, he jumps and scratches at my legs frantically until I pick him up. As soon as he's off the ground and in my arms, he sighs and presses against me.
In 3274, 4066, 4068, 4067 all had a lot or vomit in the bottom of their cages. 2568 has a definite limp on her right rear leg she favours it and rarely puts weight on it (photos). I told Brian about it and he said, "Don't worry about it. They do that sometimes." I asked if he meant they just limp sometimes. He said, "Yeah, they just do that sometimes. Probably just a soft tissue injury or something." I told him she was definitely keeping it up in the air a lot and was reluctant to put any weight on it. He said he thought he knew which dog I was talking about and said she has a tendency to do that.

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In 3278, room 906,4055 (photo), 1055 photos - he's very dear. This is the dog I call Joey. Today his activity was decreased. He has very long nails and one of the front ones has broken off. Joey still braces himself for whatever will happen when I reach in his cage to pick him up, but now, he trusts me and once I've got him in my arms he snuggles in and presses his head against me. When I try to put him down, he resists - pressing harder against me, and when I finally get him back in his cage, he just stays in whatever position, he lands in, not really sure what he should do.
In room 451, pig number 1 's ear is all scabbed over at the site of the tag.

11/10/96 Sunday HLS
In 3274, I found a capsule in the cages of dogs 3568, 2568.
In 3318, room 921, I found a capsule in 4194's cage.
In 3322, 921, photos of ears and scabs on face.
Irene said one of the mice in 2489 died. Someone crushed his head in the water hole when they shut the cage. She said when she was obbing she saw him standing up in the back and gave him a little nudge and he just sort of fell over - stiff. She said he had been dead for some time.

11/13/96 Wednesday HLS
One dog in 3325 and one in 3278, room 904 were out of their cages when I went by in the morning. The dog in 904 was from the upper row of cages so she had to fall from a very high height. She didn't seem to be injured but she was without water for the entire time she was out. Judging by the floor, she'd been out all night, probably since cleaning was done in the late afternoon on Tuesday (photo).
Obbed and cleaned 3325.
I held dogs for blood in 3318. Both rooms, 918 and 919. Lisa bled the dogs and she had a lot of trouble with two of the dogs. She had Lynn come over and try to bleed them. One dog cried and cried whenever the needle got close to him. He struggled a lot and both Lisa and Lynn 'fished' around for the vein. Dog number 4180 had to go through a lot of fishing and finally Lisa told me to put him back. After we were through with the other dogs she had me get 4180 out again and she still couldn't get the sample. She asked Lynn to come over again to help hold him and eventually they got the sample.
Lisa told me dog number 2180 had a dislocated knee early on in the study and he still is quiet because of it, though the vet says he's not in any pain. I've seen him sit in the back of the cage for most of the time I clean each time I clean. When I pick him up he's limp and lifeless. Held dogs for IV dosing in 3318, group 5, both rooms 918 and 919. Lisa and Brian were dosing. None of the dogs had to get epinephrine but Brian was unsure about one of the dogs from room 919. He 'hemmed and hawed' until finally lie just said "Yeah, put him back."

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I held dogs from study 96-3323, room 910, for ECG's. The leads always touch because there are seven wires and only one person holding. Lisa ran the ECG machine and Nick took the blood pressures. I told Lisa and Nick I had read the SOP's (at Genes's request) after the last time I helped with ECG's.
I told them the SOP said the chest wires shouldn't touch the cart the dog was on and last time we actually had them under the dogs. She paused for a moment and said, "Well, there's no other way we can do it because the wires aren't long enough." Obbed and cleaned 3323, room 910.
I watched Irene and Kathy dose one of the dogs in the new radioactive study. The dosing method is oral gavage and the test material is flushed with a second liquid after dosing. The dog was not comfortable with the rubber tube being pushed down his throat into his stomach. He twisted and squirmed and when Irene forced the test material into his stomach he stood up on his hind feet and tried to twist free of Kathy's grasp. Irene tried to force the flush material in and he really fought to get away. Even though Kathy held his mouth tightly closed (while he was up on his hind feet) clear liquid ran from the sides of his mouth. I could hear Irene say, "That's no good. I still have to flush it."
They dosed the dog while he was still in his cage. On the schedule they're listed as 'hot dogs' because of the radioactive material. The room is partially covered with coloured plastic. The carts they use in the hall way are covered in plastic. Because of the radioactive material, the room is a 'dry clean' room - it can't be cleaned with water. The pans under the dog's cage are scooped and wiped out each day.
The smell in the room is horrible. The air is so thick with the smell of faeces, any time the door opens, it can be smelled all down the hall. The technicians refer to it as the "stinky room". It's a very small room, barely holding the four racks of cages. There are between four -eight dogs on study. They are really miserable and bark frantically if they see anyone through the window. Part of their cage is obstructed by a metal plate, so they can only see out if they stand up and look out.

11/14/96 Thursday HLS
Obbed and cleaned 3325. The last male on the right side of the room still has blood on the end of his tail from chewing on it.
Held dogs from group 1-4 in room 919, study 96-3318 for blood.
I helped Lynn set up urines for study 3322.
Held dogs for blood in 3323. The dogs had pre-dose bloods taken, then they were dosed via oral gavage. Jennifer and Lynn were dosing and I heard them baby talk and "good boy" them to get them to cooperate. The scared, attention starved dogs wag their tails shyly and are anxious to please but when the dosing begins, their tails stop wagging, they struggle and cry. It made me sick to watch this emotional blackmail to get the dogs to submit.
The dogs had blood samples drawn at 15 minutes post dose, 30 minutes post dose, and 60 minutes post dose. The blood is taken from their necks.
I was scheduled to hold dogs for the 30-minute interval. Al didn't show up for bleeding and the bleeding schedule started running behind. When I got there Lisa and Irene were bleeding, Nick and Gene were holding.

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The bleeders were calling out dog numbers and the holders were running in the room to get them. Several times I had no more than put a dog back in the cage after he'd been bled and someone else was getting him back out.
When Lisa asked Gene if he wanted to bleed or hold, he said he'd hold because he was out of practice - the dogs had already taken too many hits and maybe he'd try it if they were fresh. Kevin showed up to help "catch us up". Lynn stayed to help, too. They grabbed Henry, who was cleaning a room next door to help hold. He had never held dogs for bloods before and when he took time to speak softly to the dogs and soothe them, the technicians would roll their eyes at each other and yell at him to get the next dog.
Kevin couldn't find the vein in one dog and he had to ask Irene to bleed that dog. At the end of the bleeding, one of the tubes of blood was unmarked and there were two tubes of blood for one dog. Irene said the 2 tubes was due to not enough blood being taken from one dog before he struggled so they had to do it again. And, they were missing a sample from one dog so "obviously it was from the dog they didn't have a sample from."
By the time I started holding, the dogs had two samples taken and had been jabbed countless times. Several of them would cry as soon as the tech started pressing on their necks to find the vein. Some of them screamed uncontrollably, and we had to stop trying on some of them and wait for them to calm down. The human analogy for these episodes would be hysterics. Many of the dogs had haematomas and the techs had to decide whether to go above or below the swelling to get the sample.
In between being grabbed from and shoved back in their cages and being jabbed and re-jabbed with needles, Lynn and Jennifer were shoving the dosing tubes down their throats. It was crazy and chaotic.
I cleaned 957 and 958. They are primates that are still on quarantine. Lisa told me whoever had the monkeys before us (whoever we got them from) had put dye on them, so they could tell them apart in a group colony, some of them had dark stripes from the dye, on their legs, arms, heads, just about anywhere. Lisa joked that some of them looked as if they had toupees. Each of the monkeys looks different. A couple of them looked pot bellied but most look thin and they all looked miserable. One of the males slapped a peanut out of my hand when I offered it to him.
A woman came into the tech room to find out why there were no ECG or blood pressure readings for male primate, number 6631, in study 3221. Kathy said, "Because, he's very big and has big fangs and [the study director] said it was ok to skip him this month because last time we dislocated his wrist." The woman (who works upstairs in the offices) said, "Man, you guys are tough!" Kathy shrugged and laughed and said, "He did it himself."
Went to the 4th quarter financial meeting. The U.S. Huntingdon Life Sciences will lose about 3.5 million this year, however, the UK Huntingdon is profitable. Biotechnology and reproductive toxicology are the big focus for the future. Biotechnology is drug development. Rich said big drug companies have animal quarters far larger than ours so they don't need us except for studies they don't want to run - like 24-hour monitor studies or really labour intensive studies. But small biotech companies don't have any testing facilities. We got a 2.5 million award from Bristol Myer Squibb. He said we lost several hundred thousand dollars this year because of 1) wrong compound from fridge was grabbed and the sponsor was called 2) didn't hire inhalation study director.

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He talked about things changing and how people should adapt. He went into the hall to stop someone from going outside via a door that's alarmed. He told the story that the guy said he's used that door for seven years, in response, Rich said it's time to stop. He told us Hazleton has a huge facility and only one door.
Nick practiced bleeding dogs from study 3318. He had only had 2 hours of sleep due to bleeding the night before - he had stayed at Huntingdon all night and was complaining about how wiped out he was. Probably not the best time to practice a new 'skill.'
Kevin called in late and Lisa and Lynn complained about him doing that whenever there were urines to collect. They talked about his temper and how he didn't always like to do certain things. Lynn told a story about him finding out some thing right before they went to bleed dogs and she said "Oh great! I have to go bleed dogs with him now and he'll probably throw the poor dogs against the wall."

Saturday 11/16/96 HLS
There is a memo on the bulletin board from Carol Auletta regarding the Proctor and Gamble pilot study 3314. On Friday, 11/15/96, male 6328 was lethargic but he was dosed anyway. The pilot study protocol has no provision for moribund animals - no option of euthanasia for suffering animals. Female 6333 and male 6332 had decreased activity. None of the animals had faecal output and food consumption was decreased.
Got video in 3325, 451, 453, 3318, 3278 and 3093.
In 3325, puppy number 2700 has big scabs on her head and she often puts her head through the feed bowl holder to look around at the other dogs.
In 3318, many of the dogs have bruises, sores and scratches from bloodletting. In 3322, 2193 had severe vomiting. I found a capsule in 3194's cage. The high dosage group's ears are extremely infected and dirty. In 921, 1694 was eating her faeces.
Pig numbers 4 and 8 in 451 were coughing.

11/17/96 Sunday HLS
One of the monkeys from 3314 (a pilot study for Proctor and Gamble) died right after dosing. Kathy was dosing and Lynn was holding. The dosing method is naso-gastric - -a tube is shoved up the primate's nose and forced down into the stomach; the test material is pushed in with a syringe. I was with them when they both watched the necropsy to see if they had killed him by giving him a "lung shot".
Brian, from necropsy, had already opened up the primate when I went in. Kathy saw all the blood pooled in his chest cavity and ran to get a vac tube for a sample.

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When Brian got to the lungs he squeezed out foamy liquid and looked at Kathy. She immediately claimed it wasn't 27 mls of fluid which is what the dose is and it wasn't pale pink. Brian said he thought they would call it dose related death - gavage related death. Kathy asked him to open up the stomach because they had been fasted and it should be obvious if the dose was in the stomach. The stomach was full of biscuits and there was no evidence of pink fluid. Kathy said this monkey had dropped dead right after dosing and another monkey in the study wasn't doing well.
She said she hadn't killed anything (via improper dosing) for five years and didn't want to ruin her record. She said, "[she] got suspended once for 3 days because she was holding off vein on a little monkey's leg and the monkey went one way and she still had the leg pointing straight up. Whoops! So, [she] had kind of killed that one because they had to euthanase it." She told me suspension wasn't bad - she got to take a day here and a day there. She got off for her sister's graduation, took a Friday off ...I asked what she would do with the time off this time and she said "[she] wouldn't get anything for this because it was accidental - the other thing was cruelty."
[Brian Crane told me later she should have been fired for that. The real story was that they were all in a room bleeding, Kathy had a monkey's leg held off and she was screwing around and did a little pirouette with it - holding the monkey's leg in one hand and spinning under it like they were dancing. He said they all heard the bone snap and knew right away what had happened. She had broken the primate's leg. When he said she should have been fired Irene agreed with him.]
Pigs number 4 and 8 in 451 were coughing.
Pig number 4 doesn't like the golden raisins we've been getting. He loves the regular raisins but sniffs the golden ones and turns away banging the cage for something he likes better.
Study 3278, dog 1055, overgrown nails (photo).

11/18/96 Monday HLS
Went in to hold dogs from 3318 for blood samples. Al bled them. Only bled one of the two rooms in the study. Al had a lot of trouble finding the veins on the first few dogs. He fished around and fished around inside their necks. The first two dogs cried a lot and tried to get away.
Several of the technicians have told me, if they can't find the vein in three tries they're supposed to get another technician to do it. These samples were taken at 9:00 PM, and only Al, the security guard and myself were in the building. He definitely had to try more than three times on several of the dogs.

11/20/96 Wednesday HLS
I asked Kathy about the monkey who had died on Sunday. She said it was her fault, she'd killed him. She said she'd called out after it happened and Eleanor asked her if it was because of the monkey -because she thought it was her fault. She said no, she was really sick.
I asked if she really thought it was her fault he'd died, and she said "Yeah! Well, he was just fine before I got a hold of him and dosed him. So, yeah, I'd say I had something to do with him dying!" Held dogs from 3325 for bloods. They will be sacrificed Thursday and Friday. Lynn had a lot of trouble finding the veins and eventually she just had Kevin bleed them and she held them.

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A guy from QA (Quality Assurance) came to monitor the blood sampling. He watched the first two dogs and then left. He came back and watched the last one being bled. He was surprised we were through so soon, and said, "I guess that's good. I saw the first and the last." He made a few notes and left. The short time he was there, Kevin talked to him about a party he was having.
The techs often brag about diverting QA's attention when they're being monitored. The first dog Lynn bled cried and wriggled throughout the procedure. By the time she was through, the dog had developed a huge haematoma. Lynn got an ice pack to put on it but it's still all swollen and bruised. Kevin 'dropped their eyes' (put eye drops in to dilate their pupils) because Dr. Rubin was coming to look at them.
The dogs in 3318 are getting killed on Monday and Tuesday next week. I held dogs in group five for dosing. Lisa dosed them Al, Brian, Irene and occasionally someone else bled them. These dogs are having urines sampled often and blood drawn regularly. Their shaved necks are full of scratches, scabs and bruises.
Obbed and cleaned the extra colony. The dogs are all very hyper and clearly ignored. Some are very thin. 1062 is still getting 600 grams of food each day compared to the 400 grams the others get. On the vet request Terry calls him "emaciated," and writes "... losing weight steadily since August..."
I held dogs for ECG's in 3318, group five. Lisa ran the ECG machine, Henry held the dogs and I did the blood pressure. The leads were all placed under the dogs except for the number three lead that attaches to the dog's back. The third female was very lethargic. As Henry carried her in he said, "She's not feeling well today." Her heart rate was only 52- 62 approximately. Lisa said she was barely getting peaks on the ECG reading and joked about flat lining.
Switched cages for 3328. The study is a capsule dose. Eleanor said groups 1-4 get one capsule with one tablet, group five will get one capsule with 16 capsules. They were still deciding whether they will get dosed just once or twice a day.
The dogs are just 6 months old and so sweet. The pilot study used four dogs from the 'extra' colony - the extras from 3325 seem to be who they mostly took, including the little female with the huge sad eyes that I call 'Angel.' The pilot study dogs in group two, the green group are very thin and lethargic they seem to not feel well. The group one pilot dogs including Angel are not as sick. Group two have very sticky dark diarrhoea.
Irene came through the area we were doing ECG's in and said there was a monkey in 922 (the 'extra' colony) who has a big wad of faeces on his rear. Yao went in to check and at Irene's request, pulled it off. There was blood all over the cage floor after he did it. And when I went in to look at him later on, he was still bleeding.
Stephanie, Rachel, Lynn and Lisa were joking at lunch about all the monkeys dying in the extra colony. Stephanie said, "Terry doesn't know why but then she doesn't know the cages haven't been changed for like a year. Have you heard of bacteria?!"

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11/21/96 Thursday HLS
Obbed and cleaned 3318. The dogs were fasted and water deprived for urine samples. Obbed and cleaned the extra colony.
I cleaned 457. Pig number four has scabs on his face and is missing a lot of hair on his face. I went into room 957. There is a male, #6988, who clings to the front of his cage staring hard at the door. He's very curious and was the only monkey who didn't leap to the back of his cage when I walked in.

11/23/96 Saturday HLS
(video of 3318 - pacing dogs, bruises on neck from bloods; 3278 - dogs digging out of cage) A lot of the primates in the 'extra' colony are friendly enough to take treats from my hand. Some of them reach out when I walk by them. I've noticed several of the primates in this room have a shortened tail, and one is missing some of his fingers.
In study 3322, dog # 1250 has a sore on his head, foreleg, and ear tag (photo ). In 93-3091, dog #1062 is very thin and has an ear tag infection (photo).
In study 3318, dogs #1180 and 2680 show evidence of trauma from blood collection (photos).

11/24/96 Sunday HLS
In room 91l), study 3318, 1180M has a large scab and thrombosis from blood drawing. 2180 sits in the corner of his cage a lot. He had a dislocated knee early on in the study from the test material. 3181 is twitchy from the test material. 4181 dances around my legs the entire time he's on the floor. He just wants to snuggle and be held.
In 918, study number 3318, 2680F has a large scab and thrombosis on her neck from bloods, number 4690 has multiple scabs and bruises from blood collection and 4680 still twitches. Terry re-evaluated him on the 18th and noted his "condition was the same as before." All of these dogs will be killed Monday and Tuesday of this week.
All of the pigs except for one have thinning hair and some have scabs and sores. They all have very dry skin. The Bristol Myer Squibb study is now 3331 and the four rooms of pigs have been combined to three rooms. The two red extras from 457, including the one who loves to be scratched were shaved and used in a dermal study.
Rachel, Dilip and Kevin had to cut one of the primate's cages apart to free his hand. The primates regularly get their hands stuck in the cage flooring and have to be cut loose with a bolt cutter. Dilip told me he thinks they try to grab peanuts that have ended up under the cage in the pan, and they can't get their hands through after they grab it. Then they get stuck.

11/27/96 Wednesday HLS
Gene came into the tech room and asked Eleanor about not scheduling the cardio team for one entire day next week so they could do practice surgeries.

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He also asked if there were extra dogs available for the surgeries: Eleanor said "Yes, use any and all of the dogs in the extra colony. That's what they're there for ..."
Changed racks in 3093, room 922 with Kevin, Lynn, Mahsa, Kathy, Stephanie and Brian. Kevin transferred several of the monkeys by hand locking their arms behind their backs and carrying them to the new cage. Stephanie and Kathy were talking about two of the primates in one study who were not being used anymore because they had very large canine teeth. Stephanie was on her way to do something with the other tech, and she said "I'd like to take a big pliers with me and just yank out all their teeth."

11/28/96 Thursday HLS
I went into room 957, the P & G study, to take some photos. The primates are all very afraid of people and jump to the back of the cages when the door opens. The first monkeys who notice the door open send a warning cry to the others, and the room echoes with excited shrieking. The monkey cages are all supposed to have enrichment mirrors attached and those primates who are lucky enough to get a mirror use them to their advantage.
They're to clever, they don't use their mirrors to look at heir own reflections, they use them as reflectors and subtly check out what's going on in different parts of the room. They surreptitiously watch whoever's in the room, pretending they're not interested, but not missing a thing. #6988 is different from the rest. He stays bravely at the front of his cage, his feet propped on the bars as he rests on the lone perch. His hands are always clenched around the bars, near his chin. I handed him a peanut that was out of reach and he took it gently from my fingers. Obbed and cleaned the extra room, 3091. There are 11 dogs in there.
Obbed and cleaned 3309, room 916, the Pentech Apomorphine study. All of the dog's nails are extremely long and are either curling under the paw or spreading sideways when the dogs walk. (photos) This study has special obs about one hour after dosing. The special obs note most of the dogs experiencing either increased or decreased activity, lethargy, rolling on the cage floor, ...All the dogs in this study are males.
Cleaned 3326, room 950. These dogs were born in May and received in October. The dose method is oral gavage and the sponsor is Zonagen Pharmaceutical. Dog number 2211 is extremely lethargic. He lay in the corner of his cage the entire time I was cleaning and could barely be enticed to wag his tail. When I put him in the exercise cage, he cried when the other dog jumped on him.
He walks very stymie as if it hurts him, though he does not limp. Dilip put in a vet request on or around November 18, noting the dog had excessive amounts of diarrhoea and vomit and was lethargic. The vet, Dr. Terry Kusznir, recommendation was (as usual) to do nothing and notify her if condition worsens. (photos)
In 3274, the dogs all need nails trimmed. So many lovable dogs.
Obbed and cleaned 3323, room 910, another Z-5 study - Zonagen Pharmaceutical. The dose method is oral gavage. Group four had a lot of unformed stool. Two of the dogs had vomited in the back of the cage and it was not visible during obs but I saw it when I was cleaning. This is another problem with the daily viability checks (obs). A lot of things are NOT visible from outside the cage.

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Much of what is seen depends on where the tech is standing and where the animal is. Many things are not visible without pulling the floor grate out and checking out the pan. If a dog vomits in the front of the cage it has a much greater chance of being noticed than if a dog vomits at the back of the cage.
Obbed and cleaned 3093 the extra primate colony. (photos)
I cleaned 904, study 3278. All the dogs still need their nails trimmed. In study 3322, dog #4695 has infected ears (photo).

11/30/96 Saturday HLS
I cleaned room 958, Proctor and Gamble study 3314.
I cleaned 3617, room 951, many of these primates still have scars and wounds from femoral catheters that cardio implanted. This is a Chiron study that started out as a different study. I cleaned 3331, Bristol Myer Squibb study. The pigs are still losing a lot of hair. It's very noticeable on their faces but in the obs book it's not noted.
I cleaned 3322, room 921. All the dogs need their nails trimmed. The group four dog's ears are so infected and dirty they look just grimy and smell foul.
I cleaned and obbed 3323, room 910, (photos - 2216 scabs on face, 3219 big wrinkly face, 2215 and 2219 fell from the top floor of the exercise cage because the door is broken.) I cleaned and obbed 3278, room 906. They all need their nails trimmed. None of the dogs had toys in their cages. They had all been tossed into the sink.
I cleaned and obbed 3334, room 953. This room and 952 are still under quarantine. The shipping boxes are still in room 953. Three primates are crated in each wooden box. There are three separate compartments that measure approximately two feet long, one foot wide, and two feet tall. They were shipped from Primate products Inc., 7780 NW 53rd St., Miami FA 33166, (305-471-9557). The species is listed as Macaca Fasacularis. Todd Sylvester signed the shipping label and they were transported on Delta Airlines.
The primates in 952 and 953 have hard plastic collars locked around their necks. The technicians can catch the primates by hooking the collar with a metal pole and dragging the primate forward to the front of the cage. Lisa told me these primates have them on because they're so wild they're very hard to catch.

12/1/96 Sunday HLS
I cleaned 3322, room 921. They all need their nails trimmed. Still have rashes and inflamed ears. Two of the dogs ate their faeces while I was in the room.
I cleaned and obbed 3278, room 906. All need nails trimmed.

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In the tech room one day, Lisa told me all of the primates in her study 3334 were three years old or older. Kathy made a snorting noise and said sarcastically "Yeah right! I doubt it. Have you seen some of them?"
12/4/96 Wednesday HLS Obbed and fed 3617. These primates are referred to as the 'cardio monkeys'. Jennifer always says she feels sorry for them, because they've been through so much.
Cardio is doing more practice surgeries on dogs tomorrow. Six dogs from the extra colony will have femoral catheters implanted and then will be hooked up to saline pumps for about a week. Had my review with Gene. He said each department is only allowed one raise and it's likely to only be a 2 percent increase. He said there are cardio studies pending but none happening soon.
I held male dogs from room 921, study 3322, for ECG's. Lisa ran the ECG machine and Rachel took the dog's blood pressure. Both Lisa and Rachel mentioned the clips being painful for the dogs. Lisa said she would like to know what the ECG's mean because none of them ever look alike. Rachel idly picked scabs from the dogs' ear tags while the ECG's were done.

12/5/96 Thursday HLS
I helped set up for surgery. At the pre-surgery meeting Gene said he would put one dog 'under' [anaesthesia] using just propofil on a syringe pump. Later, Brian told me Gene had really had to fight Terry, the vet, to get approval to try this anaesthetic. He said she definitely DID NOT want Gene to use it.
They sent me to get the first dog from the extra colony, dog number 11?? When I got her from her cage at about 10:00, I saw her food bowl was about one-third full. Brian, Jennifer, Yao and Gene were all in the prep room when I brought the dog in. I asked if the dogs should have been fasted prior to surgery and told them they had all been fed already.
Everyone just looked at each other until, finally, Gene said yes and looked at Jennifer, whom he had put in charge of prepping things for surgery. She said she thought we would start earlier and that the dogs are not fed until the afternoon so she didn't let anyone know to fast them. (the way the schedule's been lately, the extra colony is, to my knowledge, always obbed, fed and cleaned in the morning.) Gene said it would be all right we would just have to watch them closely in recovery and he motioned for the dog to be brought in.
Jennifer had trouble putting a catheter into the vein of dog number (the first dog), This is put in to administer the 'cocktail', prior to the isoflurane. Gene examined the tip of the catheter after she tried to get it in and told her she bent the tip on the dog's skin. He told her she should make a little cut in the surface of the skin first, to make getting the needle in easier. Jennifer's expression was of disbelief. She said she didn't want to do that. Gene said he knew she didn't want to, but she should try it and see how much easier it made it.
Jennifer finally got the catheter in, without slicing open the dog's skin, as Gene had suggested she do. She administered about half of the dose.

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The dog was still sitting upright so she injected the rest of the dose, then the dog was hooked up to the portable anaesthesia machine. Gene told me the dog was just hooked up to oxygen. When Yao was shaving the dog, Gene asked him how the dog was doing and then said the dog wasn't breathing. Yao continued to prep the dog. Gene expressed concern over the situation several times and pumped the air bag into the dog three times.
It took Yao and I several minutes to shave and scrub the dog. Jennifer came in and upon hearing Gene express his concern over the dog not breathing, said, "Just turn the isoflurane down. It's up to three." Gene didn't know the dog was hooked up to gas and exclaimed over why that was. Jennifer told him we always do it that way, keep them on gas until they're brought into the surgical suite. Gene didn't think it was necessary, the cocktail should be enough for prepping. Another dog was hooked up to isoflurane in the surgical suite, her legs tied and Jennifer made the incision for the catheter.
Brian and Gene were adjusting the gas flow when the dog started taking deep breaths and moving around on the table. Jennifer had to lie on her to keep her still. Both Brian and Gene were fiddling with dials and exchanging information on the way they were used to doing things while the dog, with a one inch cut through her skin and muscle struggled on the table. Finally, Jennifer said "The heck with sterility!" and turned a dial on the machine and squeezed the bag into the dog's lungs. The dog, mercifully, quieted down almost immediately. While Jennifer was doing this, Gene was yelling, "Wait! Wait! Do you know what you're doing? What are you doing?" Jennifer said she always did that. They had a disagreement over what she had done.
Obviously what Gene was doing was not getting the dog back under and what Jennifer did, did put the dog back under. She re-scrubbed and within a few minutes the dog wasn't breathing and her colour was poor. After several more minutes of adjustment, and fiddling, and conversation, Gene re-intubated the dog and upon checking the tube that was in her trachea originally, found that only half of the cuff was inflated. Jennifer said she had checked them all prior to surgery. This may be true, but, clearly, half of the cuff was not inflated. Jennifer finished implanting the catheter. This dog cried and howled as she woke up and her vocalizations continued long after she was placed in the cold metal cage.
I worried about the dogs' well being, when I saw they were placed directly on the cold metal floor grate of the cage immediately after they were extubated, still groggy from the anaesthetic. I've read and been told by veterinarians that it's imperative the patient be kept warm until fully recovered from anaesthetic.
The next dog operated on when through the same stormy recovery period, howling and crying. The third dog, a female was brought in. Jennifer looked at her and said, "Oh, I like this dog, she always likes to have her tummy rubbed. She's so sweet." I held the dog so Gene could catheterise her for the anaesthetic. He announced he would show us his technique. He dug into her skin with the needle, cutting through her skin until she bled. The dog cried and tried desperately to get away.
I couldn't hold her still, she was struggling so much. Jennifer ended up holding her while Yao and Brian and I all helped. At one point, as Jennifer held the dog in midair (she had jumped, and Jennifer just had to go with her) and Yao and Brian tried to hold different parts of her still, and Gene was following them, catheter poking and jabbing at the bleeding dog, Brian rolled his eyes and said "I can hear the circus music starting."
The dog was deeply anaesthetised and she took a long time to wake up. Gene said she was much, much deeper than necessary.
While waiting for her to wake up, Gene pulled hard on her whiskers. Getting no response, he snapped his fingers loudly next to ear several times. As he was doing that, Brian pinched her toes hard and she straightened her leg. Still she wasn't getting up, so they continued pulling and tugging at her.

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Diary of Michelle Rokke: part 2 (138K)

Diary of Michelle Rokke: part 3 (143k)