Dr. David H. Shelling, research fellow at the Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn, was found guilty by Magistrate Haubert in Adams Street Court Brooklyn, on Friday of being cruel to Nellie, a dog, the muzzle of which he bound with adhesive tape. The Magistrate suspended sentence.
It was said to be the first time a scientist, using animals in medical research, had been convicted under the statute against cruelty to animals, which was passed in 1867. Dr. Shelling said he believed the decision would be a stumbling block to science, and his attorney. Murray L. Jacobs, plans to file an appeal. Dr. Shelling hopes for the support of the Kings County Medical Society and the American Society of Friends of Medical Progress.
The case of Nellie, mongrel, predominating breed fox terrier, attracted wide attention last February when Harry Moran, Superintendent of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, obtained admittance to the Jewish Hospital and emerged to charge that unwarranted cruelty was going on there. He made the specific allegation that on Feb. 15 Nellie’s jaws had been tightly bound with adhesive tape from 9 A. M. to 4.10 P. M. and that she had been without food or drink during this time. He had been told, he said, that this was done to keep her from making a disturbance by barking.
Dr. Shelling denied he had been cruel to the dog and said that twice during the day the tape had been removed and water given to her. Nellie, he explained, was to be used in an experiment with a cure for diabetes, and it was necessary to prevent her from barking, because barking would reduce the animal’s basal level of metabolism.
Magistrate Haubert, who had been considering the case since a hearing March 8, submitted no memorandum with his decision. The section of the Penal Code prohibiting cruelty to animals provides that it shall not interfere with properly conducted scientific experiments; and the Magistrate later said that he had no precedents to guide him under this provision. It appeared to him, however, as Moran contended, that no experiment was actually in progress at the time in question.
JUDGE LEWIS OPENS U.P.A. ON PACIFIC COAST
The campaign for the United Palestine Appeal on the Pacific Coast will be opened tonight with a banquet launching the Los Angeles community campaign, in which the Appeal is included.
Judge William M. Lewis, national chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, will deliver the principal address.
Following his California trip. Judge Lewis will address meetings for the Appeal in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
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