Monday, January 26, 2015 - The Daily Cardinal

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Monday, January 26, 2015

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Speaker series event calls for clarity, ends in protest By Bri Maas THE DAILY CARDINAL

The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition kicked off its Black Lives Matter Speaker Series Friday with a talk on community influence over the police force given by Max Rameau, a campaign organizer and human rights activist. Rameau began the talk by commending past social movements, like the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, for setting the stage and creating a political space where people of color can organize. “It wasn’t that long ago that if a black person came to Wisconsin or anywhere else in this country and said, ‘We need

to have control over the police,’ the speech would have ended early, and probably in a lynching,” Rameau said. “We’re here only because of a social movement that made it possible for us to be here. Throughout his talk Rameau compared the Black Lives Matter movement, a nationwide response to police brutality against black suspects, with the Civil Rights Movement. He emphasized that both involve many smaller actions across the country happening all at once, with various groups confronting diverse issues. However, he said one sigTHOMAS YONASH/THE DAILY CARDINAL

speaker page 3

Protesters hold picket signs provided by the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition.

UW-Madison closes protested cat research laboratory UW-Madison announced the closure of its contentious cat research laboratory Friday, according to a university release. The university cited the retirement of neuroscience professor Tom Yin, who headed the

experiments, as reason for the lab’s closure, refuting claims that controversy amid protests from animal rights groups played a part in the closure. The lab’s experiments on hearing in humans and ani-

mals, which drew allegations of mistreatment of cats from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in 2013, ended several months ago, according to the release. While PETA carried out

several protests against the lab last year, federal investigators cleared the university to continue the experiments, according to UW-Madison’s animal research website. Yin decided to retire more

than a year ago when his National Institute for Health research grant was up for renewal, according to the release. The university added that Yin’s work would have likely received a grant renewal.

STUDENT PROFILE

UW-Madison sophomore helps save orphaned animals in Central America By Bri Maas THE DAILY CARDINAL

PHOTO COURTESY OF MITCH THOMAS

Pre-veterinary student Mitch Thomas served as a surrogate parent for Innie, an orphaned howler monkey, last summer.

+ SPORTS, page 8

UW-Madison sophomore Mitch Thomas has always had a profound interest in animals. He grew up in a house of dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters, but his real passion is a much more unique animal. “I don’t know why, but I’ve always had an obsession with manatees, ever since, like, third grade,” Thomas said. Since then, Thomas has exercised his love for the sea cow by swimming with manatees on vacation and being a member of the Save the Manatees club. When the opportunity to travel to Belize for an internship presented itself last summer, Thomas said it was a “dream come true.” The pre-veterinary student spent two months working

Koenig shines as Badgers escape with win in OT

at Wildtracks, a primate and manatee rehabilitation center that relies heavily on volunteers and donations, to return orphaned animals to health so they can survive in the wild. Thomas began his internship working as a surrogate parent for an infant howler monkey named Innie. “[The monkeys] were like human babies, which was kind of funny,” Thomas said. “We had to plan around their nap times and their feeds. They would have temper tantrums if we didn’t let them go where they wanted to, or they didn’t have their favorite fruit or they didn’t want to take a nap.” Near the end of his eight-week stay, an orphaned manatee was found stranded and Thomas was asked to help rescue and reha-

bilitate the calf. He said he was infatuated with the animal right away, which inspired the name for the baby manatee. “Someone put my name on the list of possible names and I thought it was a joke,” Thomas said, “but as they kept eliminating names, mine stayed and eventually they decided to call him Mitch.” Since primates and manatees typically stay at the rehabilitation center for two to three years before being released, Thomas said the animals he worked with will likely still be there when he goes back this summer. “I’m excited to see how they’ve all improved and how big they’ve gotten,” Thomas said. “I hope that I can work with Little Mitch and Innie again.”

From The Daily Cardinal’s lit columnist

+ ARTS, page 4

Books to inspire you in 2015

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”


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