More animals used in experiments

11.45am

The number of animals reported to have been used in scientific experiments in New Zealand jumped by a fifth last year, a Government watchdog said today.

The National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee said in its annual report, released today, that 320,911 animals were "manipulated" during 2003, an increase of 21.7 per cent from 2002.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) director of animal welfare, David Bayvel, said the jump in experimental use was due to completion of a three year reporting cycle required for longer-term projects.

"Statistics are not collected annually for long-term projects but every third year and also on their completion," he said in a statement.

Another factor to be considered was an the increase in research work undertaken by universities and the use of animals for teaching purposes, usually low impact animal husbandry/veterinary nursing or similar training.

"Manipulation" means subjecting an animal to an unusual or abnormal procedure, such as exposing the animal to any parasite, micro-organism, drug, chemical, biological product or environmental condition, or enforced activity, restraint, nutrition, or surgical intervention, or depriving the animal of usual care.

Death is not counted as manipulation, though the committee has recommended that the humane killing of animals involved in research, testing and teaching should be defined as a manipulation.

At present, there is no distinction between the humane killing of research animals and the killing of animals for food or because they are unwanted.

Dr Bayvel said the biggest percentage increases in animal experiments were in the use of marine mammals, possums, amphibia and dogs; although in all cases the total numbers were low.

Research involving these species covered fur seal pup survival, monitoring the health status, breeding and foraging behaviour of sea lions, possum control for preventing TB transmission to livestock and expansion of training courses in canine behaviour and canine vaccination.

Against the general trend there was a reduction in the use of hamsters, reptiles, birds and pigs for research, testing and teaching.

In contrast to the increase in the total number of animals used, there was a drop in the percentage of animals used in a "high suffering" category, which was slightly lower than the past two years.

- NZPA

National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee
2003 Annual Report
[PDF 45 pages 269KB]