During the first week of October, 2017, persons unknown were able to enter the University of Chile’s science faculty at the Juan Gomez Milla Campus on Macul and Grecia avenues.
After having previously identified a laboratory for animal experimentation, the unknown persons entered it, released the animals imprisoned there (mainly rodents) and destroyed the infrastructure of the lab along with all the ‘research’ documents that were inside it. The unknown persons managed to escape without being detected or identified.
During the days that followed, it was confirmed that 120 laboratory rodents were released, they were being experimented on to test the physiological effects of climate change. The ‘Institutional Committee for the Care and Use of Animals’ (CICUA) – the name of the organization responsible for approving, supervising and certifying the use of animals for experimentation – stated that the animals were not being abused, and also noted that “most of the released rodents suffer from afflictions and will not survive for long since they require the assistance of humans for their well-being and survival”.
More carelessly honest were the comments made by Paz Montenegro who pointed out: “the laboratory rodents have all been treated with SOMETHING (radiation, drugs, mutations, etc)”
The press, on the other hand, celebrated the futility of the action after several dead rodents were found in the vicinity of the facility in the following days. Faced with this situation, it is necessary to maintain some memory in the conflict with domination so that we can recall the release of animals from the laboratory of the Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences (UMCE) in June, 2008 by ‘convergence of individuals for animal liberation’.
It’s also worth reading the excellent text ‘In Defense of the Liberation of Mink’, released after a systematic series of attacks against the fur industry in Spain. The press, specialists and ‘animalists’ pointed out that several minks died once they were released and that if they survived they would damage the environment.
The strong response stated in part: “We believe that no animal should be caged, even if its release supposedly causes environmental impact. We believe that all the individuals that inhabit the planet have the right to live in freedom, without any exception. Just as we would strongly oppose somebody being locked up in a human cage (imprisonment) because in their daily life they create an impact on the environment…what we should talk about is how impossible it is for them if they stay in the cage. Contrary to what we are led to believe, mink releases are the only only opportunity these animals have to escape certain death.”
We recommend reading the complete text.
Text of the leaflet left at the scene of the attack and liberation at the University of Chile laboratory:
“Today we rise and take action to smash the cages of science and progress. Solidarity with the rats who were imprisoned. We reject the excuses used to justify the white lab coat authority. Therefore we will attack any research involving the use of non-human animals as experimental subjects, because we aim for the destruction / abolition of all forms of exploitation, including speciesism.
By the same token, we warn them: we know who they are, where they work and what they do.
We will not hesitate to attack again”
(via Noticias de la Guerra Social, translated by Insurrection News)
