Re: Johari the gorilla is on antidepressants. It eases her PMS.

[Guest guest]

This nearly made me vomit.

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> Zoos using drugs to help manage anxious animals

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> http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

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[Guest guest]

This article really upset me too. I love animals so much. We can learn so much from them. But no, doctors have to stomp out their personalities with drugs, too. And they can't tell us the price they are paying for being on drugs.

The vet tried to give my cats catlax today. A laxative made of petroleum and mineral. That cannot be good. I refused it. I upped the amount of canned pumpkin in their food instead. I am giving them my Carlson's too, and Green Hope Farms essences.

I have been through so much in the last year and a half to keep my cats off drugs.

Sorry, I know I should take this to the other list, but I haven't joined it.

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[Guest guest]

They're * & ^%ing prisoners! Probably being abused. Of course they're going to be aggressive. Hellooooo.... they're animals! This has gone too too far.

Tonyabryce_j_j wrote:

Zoos using drugs to help manage anxious animalshttp://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050912/NEWS38/50912012/-1/NEWSToledo has wealth of success storiesBy JENNI LAIDMANBLADE SCIENCE WRITERJohari the gorilla is on antidepressants. It eases her PMS.When the Toledo Zoo needed calm zebras, it used an antipsychoticmedication to quiet their jitters. Zoo staffers tried to soothewildebeests with antipsychotic medication for eight months lastyear, and even occasionally this year. A swamp monkey was dosed withthe antipsychotic, but it didn't help her get along with herdaughter. It wasn't much good for ostrich aggression either. Yet alittle Valium calmed the silverback gorilla when one of the femaleshad a doctor visit. And Prozac helped

a female orangutan negotiatelife in her group.Now that humans have warmly embraced citizenship in the ProzacNation, zoo animals are making tentative gallops, flights, andknuckle-walks into the world of psychotropic pharmaceuticals.In the last decade, zoos across the nation have turned toantidepressants, tranquilizers, and even antipsychotic drugs such ashaloperidol, sold as Haldol, to ease behavioral problems in zoodenizens."They're definitely a wonderful management tool, and that's how welook at them," said the Toledo Zoo's mammal curator, RandiMeyerson. "To be able to just take the edge off puts us a littlemore at ease."Klechka was 300 pounds of sinewy orange ferocity. Then keepers hungshade cloth in the Amur tiger's enclosure to keep him out of thesun. (Amur tigers are also called Siberian tigers.)That did it. He morphed from brave tiger into cowardly lion."It was terrifying for him," Ms.

Meyerson said. "He even stoppedeating."To help Klechka get accustomed to his altered environment, the bigcat received a low dose of Valium for two days. It did the trick.The 2-year-old tiger went back to being his normal, formidable self.Long-term treatmentMost often, the drugs are short-term interventions to help animalsthrough a bad patch, but occasionally, they become a long-termtreatment for animal behavior. Take the case of Johari, a 17-year-old female gorilla.To hear gorilla keeper Char Petiniot describe interactions among theToledo Zoo's gorillas is to follow a soap opera featuring a greater-than-average number of bite wounds.Johari is a nervous gorilla at the best of times, plucking hair fromher arms and face the way some people chew fingernails. To makematters worse, her family group has had more than its share ofdrama, with members moving in and out of the group, and alliancesconstantly

shifting. When Kwisha, a silverback, returned to thegroup in 2002 after a lengthy separation, Johari kept gettinginjured in fights with Kwisha.At first, keepers blamed Kwisha. He attacked Johari on a number ofoccasions, and many of the attacks required medical treatment.Johari had to be knocked out, separated from her group, and giventime to heal. On return, she'd be attacked again.Things got so serious, there was talk of blunting the silverback'steeth, an idea no one liked."We finally decided, after watching what was going on, that itreally wasn't Kwisha's fault," Ms. Petiniot said. Kwisha was justbeing a normal dominant male."He was trying to approach her, and she would go berserk. He'd walkup to her, and she'd scream bloody murder and charge him and jump onhim."By tracking Johari's menstrual cycles against injuries in thegorilla group, Ms. Petiniot noticed a correlation.Troupe members were

most likely to be injured the week beforeJohari's menses.Johari was given daily doses of an antidepressant often used forpremenstrual tension. A month after she started on Prozac, she wasreintroduced to her group. To everyone's delight, the reintroductionwas trouble-free."They were fine. I don't think we had any injuries," Ms. Petiniotsaid.In fact, Johari and Kwisha bred, and the female gave birth to Darain August, 2003. The zoo staff hoped the hormonal changes ofpregnancy and nursing would reduce her premenstrual symptoms.Antidepressant treatment was stopped. It proved a mistake."She got kind of psychotic on us," Ms. Petiniot said. Johari wasback on antidepressants in a month, and she remains on them.Ms. Petiniot acknowledges she is conservative when it comes to theuse of any drug. She'd rather have the animals living drug-freewhenever possible. But animal behavior expert and veterinarian KathyHoupt

of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., says real ethicalproblems can arise when needed treatment is withheld.Ethical issues"I think it's unethical to have an animal — for example a dog withseparation anxieties, desperately trying to get out of the house,digging until his paws are bloody — it's unethical not to treat themwith drugs if it will make them not as anxious or not as aggressive.You're making an animal feel more contented," Dr. Houpt said.The emotional lives of great apes seem to demand specialintervention. When any of the gorillas is immobilized for treatmentor surgery, Kwisha becomes completely unglued, Ms. Petiniot said."He just gets really upset," she said. His displeasure is compoundedby profuse diarrhea. Kwisha's emotional state, and its unpleasantside effects, spreads to all the other gorillas. Everyone gets sick.The male also refuses to take his group outside."They're afraid to move. They

want to stay where it's safe," Ms.Petiniot said.Today, Kwisha gets a dose of Valium before any gorilla is sedatedfor treatment. Unfortunately, the calm isn't flawless. It doesnothing to stem the nervous diarrhea.In zoos, increased contentment can mean decreased injuries. When theToledo Zoo opened its Africa exhibit in 2004, it used theantipsychotic medication haloperidol to ease animals into the new,mixed-species exhibit.Haloperidol is used to treat schizophrenia in humans, but it isknown for its severe side effects. Extended use can produce tardivedyskinesia — involuntary movements of the face, tongue, lips, trunk,and extremities. The dyskinesia can be permanent. But when Haldol isused for short periods in animals, it acts as a tranquilizer, zoostaffers say.The zoo's four new wildebeests were on Haldol off and on from April,2004, through December, and they have been put on it at varioustimes this

year as well.The wildebeests' feisty nature drove the zoo's veterinarian to trydrug intervention."They're sort of unique in the hoofstock world in how they deal withthe different challenges they face as a herd animal," said WynonaShellabarger, the zoo's veterinarian. "They tend to stand andchallenge rather than run away. There's a lot more just generalcompetition for the alpha spot, the dominant animal."The animals were continually monitored while on the drugs, she said."We were looking for all the potential side effects," but saw none,she said.The zoo's new Grant's zebras were on haloperidol in November andDecember to ease them into new surroundings.Zebras will chase anything new or unfamiliar in their environment,said Dr. Shellabarger. When it was time for the zebras to join otheranimals in the Africa exhibit, the animals received haloperidol."It would be silly to try an introduction

without some type ofintervention," Dr. Shellabarger said.When one of the impalas in the Africa exhibit gave birth, the zebraswere put on haloperidol again."Zebra are known to kill baby impala. That's just a naturalbehavior," Dr. Shellabarger said. "Something new, somethingvulnerable, perhaps they somehow perceive it as a threat."This time, the zebras were on haloperidol for three days, Dr.Shellabarger said, blunting their response to the new animal intheir environment.But the antipsychotic failed to work on Maxine, a swamp monkey atviolent odds with a young daughter reaching sexual maturity. Lastyear Dr. Shellabarger, Ms. Meyerson, and the zoo's behavioralspecialist agreed to try the drug on Maxine over the objections ofthe monkeys' keeper. At first, Haldol made Maxine groggy. But areduced dose did not stop her attacks on the youngster. Eventually,Maxine's daughter was removed from the family

group.Nor did the drug work on a pair of female ostriches."It's not a foolproof thing," Dr. Shellabarger said.A dose of caution Overall, a veterinarian who specializes in animal behavior atthe University of Pennsylvania, has acted as a consultant to zoosand animal sanctuaries. While she is an advocate for the use ofantidepressants in animals, including pets, she's more cautious whenit comes to haloperidol.While antidepressants generally increase the availability of theneurochemical serotonin, haloperidol works with the brain chemicaldopamine. Dopamine-effecting medicines tend to produce more sideeffects, Dr. Overall said."I've seen it used in monkeys. I usually get called after it doesn'twork," she said. "I don't like Haldol. I don't like the dopaminergicdrugs, the ticks they produce. It can make some animals moreanxious."She acknowledged Haldol is often used successfully in parrots

andother birds, but she noted that a bird's metabolism is dramaticallydifferent from that of a mammal.Laurie Bergman, a veterinarian and behavior specialist with theUniversity of California, , says haloperidol is a drug of lastresort. Dr. Bergman also does consulting work with zoos."Something like Haldol, that's in many ways a sloppy drug. You havea lot of risk of side effects and also overall repression of normalbehavior."Haloperidol was effective for the Toledo Zoo's female Birds ofParadise, Trouble and her sister, Double Trouble, said Webster, the zoo's bird curator. The females were plucking outfeathers, and no amount of new toys or other interventions put astop to the behavior. After three days on Haldol, Trouble stoppedplucking. Double Trouble, who now lives at a Fort Worth zoo, stoppedplucking after a second three-day treatment.Although there is little published veterinary literature

about theeffects of drugs like haloperidol in wild animals, the use ofpsychotropic drugs is likely to increase, as zoos look for ways tokeep confined animals as happy and as injury-free as possible."It seems to me if people are willing to keep animals in a zoo, theyought to do anything necessary to make those lives as atraumatic aspossible," Dr. Overall said.Contact Jenni Laidman at: jenni@... or .FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (© ) material the useof which has not always been specifically authorized by thecopyright owner. Such material is made available for educationalpurposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy,scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It isbelieved that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrightedmaterial as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the USCopyright Law. This material is distributed without

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[Guest guest]

" Sorry, I know I should take this to the other list, but I haven't

joined it. "

Come join it, I get lonely in there sometimes!!!xx

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I just sent this revolting article along to PETA

Casey

[Guest guest]

Good idea Casey!

After watching an A Second Look episode on the Barnum & elephants being abused, I absolutely abhor zoos and circuses. And now this...mcpark99_2000 wrote:

I just sent this revolting article along to PETACasey

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Geez, its not even going to be safe to take kids to the zoo anymore!!

Tina

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