After revelations came to light that animals used for laboratory testing were abandoned when his testing lab was repossessed by the bank, “Democratic” gubernatorial candidate Shri Thanedar told anyone who would listen that he tried to save those poor tortured animals but that it was the bank that left them there to suffer without food and water.
Turns out, that is a lie:
A top Democratic contender in the Michigan governor’s race fought to sell off more than 100 animals at a shuttered pharmaceutical testing facility he owned, court records show, contradicting his account of events that culminated in the neglected animals’ rescue.
Businessman Shri Thanedar has been weathering accusations of animal neglect after HuffPost reported Wednesday that animal welfare groups had to rescue over 170 dogs and monkeys months after the Oxford, New Jersey, facility shut down in 2010.
On Thursday, the candidate tried to pin the animals’ neglect on Bank of America, which repossessed the property in April of that year. He said the bank sought to sell the animals against his advice.
But court records show that the court-appointed receiver, charged with managing the disputed property, actually tried to place the animals in sanctuaries against Thanedar’s wishes.
In fact, it was Thanedar’s attorneys who unsuccessfully sought to have the animals assessed and sold. […]
“The Receiver has investigated the various options available with respect to the Animals and has determined that it is in the best interests of the Receivership Estate for the Animals to be placed with the various animal sanctuaries,” [the Receiver] Morris-Anderson’s motion said.
An attorney for Thanedar’s companies objected to the proposal, arguing instead that Morris-Anderson should have tried to sell the animals. The proceeds from the sale, Thanedar’s attorney maintained, could have benefited the creditors and thus reduced Thanedar’s debts to them.
In other words, the animals could have been placed in sanctuaries right away but Thanedar was so keen to reduce how much money he owed the bank that he left them to suffer while he filed legal arguments against it.
One other thing: Thanedar’s claim that the beagles and monkeys were all happy as clams in their tiny cages in his animal testing laboratory is also BS:
According to USDA documents, the lab received several citations for cages that were too small and for expired medication used in their veterinary treatment.
Add all of this to the very long list of reasons that I not only will not be voting for Shri Thanedar but I will work tirelessly to ensure he comes nowhere near getting the Democratic Party’s nomination to run in the General Election for governor.
[Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog]
