By Ted ShockleyStaff Writer
WALLOPS — Three volunteers from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wearing cardboard masks caged themselves in front of a NASA Wallops Flight Facility sign Wednesday to protest a radiation experiment on squirrel monkeys.
Two other PETA representatives held protest signs along the Chincoteague Road site as some driving by pointed, stared straight ahead or took photos of a rare Eastern Shore appearance by the Norfolk-based international animal-rights group.
“People are totally surprised that NASA is still radiating monkeys when they could be testing humans who have been to space,” said David Shirk, a PETA campaigner.
Ashley Edwards, a Washington D.C.-based NASA spokeswoman, said none of the monkeys are at Wallops and they won’t be harmed.
They will be housed at a national laboratory in New York where they will receive a dosage of heavy ion radiation equal to what would be received by an astronaut on a trip to Mars, she said.
The proposed study would exceed federal safety guidelines and the effect on the monkeys’ central nervous system will be studied over a four-year period.
“We would not test on primates unless we felt it was absolutely necessary to do so,” said Edwards.
Afterward, they will be cared for and live out the rest of their natural lives. “They’re not going to be sick,” she said.
There were scattered similar protests across the country.
At the Wallops intersection, the PETA representatives caused a stir, arriving in a yellow van painted with criticism of McDonald’s restaurants, calling the chain “McCruelty.”
The van temporarily parked in a handicap-reserved space at Ocean Deli while organizers set up foldable animal cages across the street from a Royal Farms convenience store. They later moved the van.
Three climbed into cages, later banging against the sides and impersonating the animals.
Their goal, Shirk said, was “urging NASA to use more modern methods instead of experimenting on animals.”
One man in a red Dodge pickup truck rolled down his window to heckle the group.
“Hey, I like animals. They taste great next to the potatoes,” he shouted.
Shirk acknowledged that some make similar statements. But more, he said, feel differently.
“Most people are compassionate and recognize animal cruelty,” he said.
I rode over that way this afternoon but was too late. PETA had already packed up their cages and had left the area. I was going to ask one of them about the more "modern ways of experimenting". Just what is that?
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