Dogs, Research Papers Stolen at Medical Center

Seven dogs and research documents belonging to the surgeon who transplanted a baboon heart into Baby Fae in 1984 were stolen early Monday from an animal care facility at Loma Linda University Medical Center, authorities said.

The militant Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn raid in which intruders also dumped red paint on equipment and defaced walls with animal rights slogans and words including “torturers” and “murderers,” San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Bryant said. Damage to the facility was estimated at $6,000 to $10,000.

Loma Linda officials described the care facility as a “farm” where animals including goats, horses and dogs were taken after their use in research projects had ended.

“Criminals performing acts that jeopardize the health and welfare of these farm animals should be prosecuted,” said Dr. Leonard L. Bailey, chief of pediatric cardiac surgery at Loma Linda, in a statement released by Loma Linda officials. The Animal Liberation Front said it stole records on Bailey’s work. Bailey could not be reached for additional comment.

Outrage Told

However, Loma Linda spokeswoman Anita Rockwell said, “Loma Linda University is outraged at the illegal activities of the radical ALF and the falsified information released following the raid.”

Rockwell said “no significant research material was taken or disturbed,” and that none of the two dogs and five puppies taken were research animals.

Instead, Rockwell said the two dogs had been recently retired from a breeding program and that the puppies were donated to the university and were considered pets.

She described the stolen documents as “farm animal-immunization records and breeding histories . . . and some old records of Dr. Bailey’s already published research in cross-species transplantation.”

Bryant said the raiders apparently obtained entry by cutting through gate hinges at the animal care facility, which was guarded by an alarm system that had been turned off because of mechanical problems.

“There are no suspects at this time,” Bryant said. “But we have definite physical evidence.” He declined to elaborate.

Animal Liberation Front members claimed in a press release that Bailey’s research projects “were not successful and did not advance the level of ‘human clinical trials,’ according to his own research documents.”

Interpretation of Documents

The press release added, “After reviewing the documents, we have reason to believe that Dr. Bailey had full prior knowledge that Baby Fae could not survive and, in fact, did not expect her to, so based on his prior research.”

Baby Fae was 12 days old when Bailey performed the controversial transplant that made the baby the first infant ever to receive a heart taken from another species. Baby Fae lived 20 days with the baboon heart, dying Nov. 15, 1984. Her real name was never disclosed.

The activists provided a sympathizer living in San Bernardino, Margo Tannenbaum, with copies of some of the stolen documents, as well as color photographs and a video showing hooded men holding some of the animals that were taken.

“They must have done it before 1:30 a.m. because that is when they called me about it,” Tannenbaum said in an interview at her home. “They left the information on my doorstep.”

Tannenbaum said she has never met Animal Liberation Front members in person, although they anonymously notify her of their activities by telephone.

Tannenbaum gave reporters copies of what appeared to be breeding histories and medical records of goats, lambs and baboons that were used in transplantation research. Tannenbaum was unable to say which, if any, supported the activists’ claims that Bailey knew his projects were unsuccessful.