Cheetahs used in New Zealand animal research

Auckland Zoo veterinary staff perform a full health check on 10-year-old male cheetah Anubis, in March 2015. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Cheetahs are among an increasing number of protected species being used for animal research in New Zealand.

The world's fastest land mammal and Africa's most endangered cat has cropped up in a new Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) report, revealing two of the exotic animals were part of scientific research conducted in this country in 2015.

According to the annual report, which tracks the use of animals in "research, testing and teaching [RTT]", the cheetahs were used for "veterinary research".

An MPI spokesman said no "testing" was done on the big cats. However, MPI doesn't know what research was actually carried out on the cheetahs - an animal in rapid decline, whose numbers have plummeted from 100,000 to around 10,000 over the last 100 years, leaving it vulnerable to extinction.

"The two cheetahs were from a New Zealand zoo. They were used for veterinary research only, not testing. We do not hold information on what veterinary research was carried out," Paul Dansted, an MPI director said.

A spokeswoman said MPI "would not reveal the zoo name without first consulting with them" and any such request would have to be treated under the Official Information Act - a process which takes 20 working days.

The MPI report declares a 27 per cent decrease in overall "animal use statistics", with a 84,977 reduction to 225,310 in 2015 compared to the previous year.

However, it also declares an increase in the number of protected species being "manipulated".

The Animal Welfare Act 1999 defines manipulation as interfering with the normal physiological, behavioural, or anatomical integrity of the animal. This can include exposing an animal to any parasite, micro-organism, drug, chemical, biological product, radiation, electrical stimulation, environmental condition or enforced activity, restraint, nutrition or surgical intervention.

"More animals with protected species status were manipulated in 2015 (+ 1147). The rise was mostly due to an increase (+ 4420) in the number of reptiles reported. Other protected species reported as manipulated for RTT in 2015 included "other birds" (2471), "other species" (313), amphibia (307), marine mammals (246) and fish (50)," the report says.

Dansted confirmed tuatara, a protected native reptile, was among species used for "basic biological research", but not testing, and that protected species required approval from the Department of Conservation.

"Just like all other animals, research, testing or teaching with exotic or threatened animals needs to be approved by the animal ethics committee which is set up under each Code of Ethical Conduct," he said.

The report also cites a reptile dying "inside a pitfall trap" and "one pig died during transport to a facility".

When questioned about what happened to those animals, MPI said it didn't know.

"While we collect data on deaths, we do not collect the specifics on how. Therefore, we do not have any information on the reptile or the pig death," Danstead said. "We do however, collect anecdotal information during our interactions with the organisations - but unfortunately in the case of the reptile and the pig we do not have further details available."

Cattle was the most commonly reported species in 2015, making up 63 per cent of farm animals used and 26.3 per cent overall, with mice (21.5 per cent), fish (18.1 per cent) and sheep (10.4 per cent) completing the top four.

"Nearly 61 per cent of animals returned to their normal environment following their use in manipulations. Over 96 per cent of production animals remained alive following use. However, nearly 97 per cent of rabbits and rodents were 'dead or euthanased' following manipulation," the report said.

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