PETITION: WARD'S NATURAL SCIENCE KILLS BATS FOR PROFIT

[Guest guest]

WARD'S NATURAL SCIENCE KILLS BATS FOR PROFITTarget: Jeff Douglass, Purchasing Supervisor, Ward's ScientificBat World SanctuaryWe were recently alerted to hundreds of bat specimens being sold in jars bycompanies such as necromance.com and post mortemstudiorental.com, and tracedthe source of these bats to a popular science company used by teachers knownas Ward’s Natural Science. We purchased one of these bats and discovered thelabel was shared by both Wards and Science Kit & Boreal Laboratories. Ward’sNatural Science company and its affiliates, Edmund Scientific, Science Kitand Boreal Laboratories, provide science education materials for elementarythrough college classrooms. Wards is a division of VWR International.On gross necropsy we discovered this bat, a female Mexican free-tail, to beplump and healthy. She had a full stomach and intestines and was also anursing mother. By all appearances (and by Ward's later admission) this batwas collected live and killed, leaving behind a starving pup. This bat had apotential life span of 25 to 40 years in the wild and was capable of eatinghundreds of millions of insects during her lifetime. She was sold for $6.25.For the complete story please visit:http://www.batworld.org/wall_of_shame/wardsnaturalsciencekills.htmlPETITION:http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/842577656Please write a letter to the the contacts below at Wards Natural Scienceand voice your dismay over their apparent lack of integrity regarding batsand other wildlife. A sample letter is provided below. Please also forwardthis page to every educator, conservationist and student you know.President: Jeff Douglass - Jeff_DouglassPurchasing Supervisors:Bill Mistretta - BMistrettaJ. Bubel - JBubelHard copy letters can be mailed or faxed to the following:Ward's Natural Science5100 West Henrietta RoadWest Henrietta, NY 14692Tel: 585-321-9422Fax: 585-321-0372SAMPLE LETTER - please feel free to copy and paste the following letter intothe body of an e-mail.Dear Ward's Natural Science,Your name has been listed on the Wall of Shame at www.batworld.orgbecause you are selling bats that have been collected healthy and alive,then killed just so your company can make a profit. The fact you alsocondone the harvesting of healthy mother bats causing the intentionalorphaning of helpless babies is morally repugnant. This action is asethically questionable as the importation of living animals to be killed incanned hunts for a profit. Despite your excuses, this level of crueltycannot be justified scientifically.Bats are in rapid decline across the US. As primary predators of vastquantities of night-flying insects, including serious crop pests,free-tailed bats are important to the agricultural interests of our country.As a purportedly ethical society, it is time we moved beyond the practice ofsacrificing free-living animals for ‘study.’ There are numerous specimensavailable at fine museums everywhere and deceased wildlife, which has diedof natural causes, can be easily obtained from wildlife rehabilitators. I amabsolutely sure that every school student in this great country would beoutraged if they knew these animals were being killed just so they couldlook at them in a jar.I ask that Ward’s Scientific and all its affiliates stop the sacrificeof bats and other healthy wildlife on the grounds it is unjustified,unsustainable, and morally wrong. Until then, I will tell all my friendsabout Ward's Natural Science and its affiliates and actively encourage theboycott of Wards Natural Science products to teachers, students and thegeneral public across the US.Signed,[YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS]PETITION:http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/842577656