Are monkey experiments justified?

The current president of the Zoological Society of London,Professor Sir Patrick Bateson, was commissioned by the main bodies that fund medical research in Britain to assess whether the studies on non-human primates (NHPs) were necessary, high-quality and yielded significant advances in medical science. Animal welfare groups opposed to experimentation on monkeys called again for the practice to be banned outright. Bateson's report stated that the practice should continue and finds the current work to be generally of good quality. But also voiced concern that no clear scientific, medical or social benefits had emerged from nearly one in 10 projects. It also said that in a minority of experiments, the justification for using monkeys was "not compelling". Source

Here's another April 1 story

A farmer has bred the first ever tartan sheep – creating a minor tourist attraction at his farm in Scotland. Grant Bell has taken to parading the colourful flock across his East Lothian property to the sound of bagpipes. Source

BMW unveils dog-proof car

BMW, manufacturers of luxury cars, are proud to unveil a new model, guaranteed to have a longer lasting, cleaner, body because dogs will find it unpleasant to urinate on. Dr Hans Zoff, the inventor of Canine Repellent Alloy Protection system, said: 'Research shows that most BMW customers love to keep their cars clean – but dog fouling is a constant irritant.' A pet who relieves itself over the new model's wheels will get quite a buzz out of it – as an unpleasant 200 volts shoots through its body. (By the way, Happy April 1) Source: Metro.uk

Flying penguins caught on film

Camera crews discovered an unusual colony of Adélie penguins while filming on King George Island, some 750 miles south of the Falkland Islands. When the weather took a turn for the worse, rather than getting together in a huddle to protect themselves from the cold, they did something quite unexpected, that no other penguins can do. These penguins not only take flight from the Antarctic wastes, but fly thousands of miles to the Amazonian rain forest to find winter sun. (By the way, Happy April 1) Source: Telegraph (via)