Alex Pacheco (activist)

Alex Pacheco (activist)

Alexander Fernando Pacheco (born August 1958) is an American animal rights activist. He is co-founder and former chairman of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), founder of All American Animals, [ [http://www.allamericananimals.com/ All American Animals] , accessed February 16, 2008.] a member of the advisory board of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, [ [http://www.seashepherd.org/boa/boa_alex_pacheco.html "Board of Advisors, Alex Pacheco"] , Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.] and the creator of "1-800-Save-a-Pet.com". [ [http://www.1-800-save-a-pet.com/ 1-800-Save-a-Pet.com] ] .]

Pacheco first came to public attention in 1981 for his role in what became known as the Silver Spring monkeys case, a campaign to save 17 crab-eating macaques who were undergoing experiments in the Institute for Biological Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. Oliver Stone writes that the political campaign to save the monkeys and highlight their treatment gave birth to the animal rights movement in the United States.

The campaign began when Pacheco took a job as a volunteer at the Institute to learn more about animal research as part of his animal rights activism. Edward Taub, a psychologist, was engaged there in research that involved removing the sensory input from monkeys' limbs, then withholding food and subjecting them to electric shocks to force the animals to use the limbs they could not feel.Johnson, David. [http://www.curledup.com/mindbrai.htm "Review of "The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force"] , "curledup.com", 2003.] Doidge, Norman. "The Brain That Changes Itself". Viking Penguin 2007, p. 141.] Largely because of the conditions in which the monkeys were kept, Pacheco reported Taub for violations of animal cruelty laws. Police raided the lab and seized the monkeys. Taub was charged with 119 counts of animal cruelty, the first such charges to be brought in the U.S. against a research scientist. He was convicted on 6 counts, but the convictions were later overturned on appeal, one of them as the result of a jurisdictional technicality.Carlson, Peter. "The Strange Case of the Silver Spring Monkeys," "The Washington Post" magazine, February 24, 1991.]

The resulting legal battle for custody of the monkeys reached the United States Supreme Court, the first animal-rights case to do so,Newkirk, Ingrid. "Free the Animals". Lantern, 2000.] generating a large amount of publicity for PETA, and transforming it from what Ingrid Newkirk called "five people in a basement" into a national movement. [Schwartz, Jeffrey and Begley, Sharon. "The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force". HarperCollins, 2002 p. 161.] As a result of the case, the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology held hearings which led to the 1985 Animal Welfare Act, [ [http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/pl99198.htm Food Security Act of 1985 subtitle F] ] and in 1986, changes in United States Public Health Service guidelines for animals used in animal research included a requirement that each institution seeking federal funding have an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee whose job it is to oversee how laboratory animals within that institution are cared for.

Early life

Pacheco was born in Joliet, Illinois, but moved to Mexico with his family when he was very young, where he was raised near the ocean with his siblings, Jimmy and Mary, by his Mexican father, a physician, and his mother, an American nurse.Guillermo, Kathy Snow. "Monkey Business". National Press Books, 1993, pp. 30-33.]

Kathy Snow Guillermo writes in "Monkey Business" that Pacheco's early life was filled with animals. Bats lived in the rubber trees in his front yard, snakes slept behind nearby rocks, and fishermen regularly dragged dolphins out of the water onto the beach. Instead of animals being killed for food in slaughterhouses, pigs, oxen, chickens, and turkeys were frequently killed in front of him.

The family left Mexico when Pacheco was in junior high, and moved between Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. His interest in animals continued, and he would often buy turtles and birds from pet stores, and even a baby crab-eating macaque, whom he called Chi Chi, and who took to perching on his shoulder as he walked around the house.

He attended Catholic university in Ohio, intending to enter the priesthood, but during a visit to Canada in his first year at university, he visited a friend who worked at a meat-packing plant. Despite his early exposure in Mexico to animals being killed for food, he was shocked by the sight of two men throwing a newborn calf, cut from the uterus of its slaughtered mother, into a dumpster. Later in the week, a friend gave him a copy of Peter Singer's "Animal Liberation", and he returned to Ohio as a vegetarian. His heart was no longer in becoming a priest, and he decided to attend Ohio State University instead, and to devote himself to helping what he called "other-than-human beings."

Early activism

At university, Pacheco organized campaigns against the use of leghold traps and castrating pigs and cattle without anesthetic. As Ohio is an agricultural state, his activism met with stiff opposition and the occasional anonymous telephone call threatening to blow his head off.

In 1979, he attended a talk in Columbus by Cleveland Amory of "Saturday Review", who was also the founder of the Fund for Animals, which ran the anti-whaling vessel, "Sea Shepherd". He sought Amory out after the talk and begged to be allowed to volunteer, joining the ship for the summer in the engine room and as a deckhand, as it famously rammed and sank the Portuguese whaling ship, the "Sierra".

The Peace Abbey, of Sherborn, MA, awarded Alex Pacheco with the Courage of Conscience award March 20, 1995. [ [http://www.peaceabbey.org/awards/cocrecipientlist.html The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Recipients List ] ]

ee also

*Ingrid Newkirk
*People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
*Silver Spring monkeys
*Unnecessary Fuss

Notes

Further reading

*Pacheco, Alex and Francione, Anna. [http://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts-m/pacheco01.htm "The Silver Spring Monkeys"] in Singer, Peter. "In Defense of Animals". New York: Basil Blackwell, 1985, pp. 135-147.
*Pacheco, Alex. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOdQBfQ8Sb8 Address to the 2007 Animal Rights Conference] , "YouTube", retrieved February 16, 2008.
*Sideris, Lisa et al. [http://dels.nas.edu/ilar_n/ilarjournal/40_1/40_1Roots.shtml "Roots of Concern with Nonhuman Animals in Biomedical Ethics"] , "Institute for Laboratory Animal Research Journal", volume 4, issue 1, 1999.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Alex Pacheco — The name Alex Pacheco can refer to:* Alex Pacheco (baseball), a baseball player * Alex Pacheco (activist), an American animal rights activist, and co founder of PETA …   Wikipedia

  • Pacheco — is a Spanish and Portuguese surname:PeopleGeneral*Agustín Díaz Pacheco, Spanish writer *Alex Pacheco, United States animal rights activist *Ana Maria Pacheco, Brazilian artist *Arturo Pacheco Altamirano, Chilean painter *Bruno Lázaro Pacheco,… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Mexican Americans — This is a list of notable Mexican Americans.ListAthletesBaseball players*Hank Aguirre MLB All Star pitcher *Mel Almada MLB outfielder *Armando Almanza MLB player pitcher *Abe Alvarez MLB pitcher *Rubén Amaro, Jr. MLB outfielder *Frank Arellanes… …   Wikipedia

  • Опыты на животных — Шимпанзе Энос перед помещением в космический корабль Меркурий Атлас 5, 1961 год …   Википедия

  • People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — PETA redirects here. For other uses, see Peta (disambiguation). Founder(s) Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco …   Wikipedia

  • Ingrid Newkirk — Infobox Celebrity name = Ingrid Newkirk image size = 200px caption = Ingrid Newkirk with her photographer s chihuahua during in 2007. birth date = birth date and age|1949|6|11 birth place = death date = death place = occupation = President of… …   Wikipedia

  • List of University of Florida people — Notable alumni or attendeescience and mathematics*Mark Adler, American researcher, known for his work in data compression, and creator of zlib and gzip *Linda H. Aiken, Current Director of the Center of Health Outcomes and Policy Research, and… …   Wikipedia

  • Mel Broughton — (born 5 July 1960) is a British landscape gardener who has risen to public prominence as one of the UK s most notable animal rights advocates. He was the co founder in 2004, with Robert Cogswell, of SPEAK, The Voice for the Animals, a campaign to …   Wikipedia

  • Sea Shepherd Conservation Society operations — A variation of the flag used by the group. Main article: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society engages in various demonstrations, campaigns, and tactical operations at sea and elsewhere, including conventional… …   Wikipedia

  • Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty — This article is about Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. For Student Health Action Coalition, see Student Health Action Coalition. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty Founder(s) Greg Avery, Heather Nicholson, Natasha Dellemagne Founded November 1999 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”