NEWS: Lab cats and dogs could find new homes with families in changes to laws on animal experiments
Animal Defenders International has welcomed a proposal that cats and dogs used in scientific experiments should be re-homed after use, in plans for changes to a major European law governing animal testing all across Europe.
According to the latest UK Home Office statistics, nearly six thousand dogs and approaching 200 cats were used in one year. In Europe as a whole, the most recent figures show more than 24 thousand dogs and close to four thousand cats were tested on.
Examples of some of the tests that have involved companion animals include poisoning tests, pacemaker experiments, tests for pet food and veterinary experiments. Most cats and dogs used in laboratories are euthanised after they have been tested on.
The proposal to re-home is part of the revision of European Directive 86/609, which lays down the rules on scientific testing on animals all over Europe. The re-homing proposal is made because, according to the revision document, “there is a high public concern as to the fate of those animals”. Not all dogs and cats would be re-homed though. The document also states that “the animals whose welfare would be compromised should be killed using a humane method.” Animals that are used for poisoning tests would still be killed so their organs can be examined at the end of the experiment.
It has been claimed that laboratory animals such as beagles make difficult pets. LASA – the Laboratory Animal Science Association published a guidance document on the re-homing of laboratory dogs, and claimed this could be successful although not always an easy task. Training programmes are recommended, including introducing laboratory dogs to grass surfaces for the first time, and getting them used to traffic noise.
The proposal is that laboratories re-homing animals should have a scheme in place to make sure they are given proper socialisation, to make it easier for families to re-home them.
A major rescue operation by the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) proved that laboratory dogs can be successfully re-homed. A previous undercover investigation into Toxicol Laboratories which revealed that beagle puppies were being fatally force-fed weedkiller, led to a further investigation of the company that supplied the dogs. Animal dealer Interfauna sent puppies to their deaths in laboratories all over the world. In an undercover sting, NAVS field officers rescued six beagle puppies from Interfauna and re-homed them in pairs to loving families. The puppies; Jonesey and Pasca, Poppy and Nat, and Eric and Chloe settled in perfectly to a domestic life, and fifteen years on some are still living long into old age, past average life expectancy.
Around the world ADI and NAVS have been involved in the rescue and relocation of numerous laboratory animals – even monkeys used in invasive experiments in which electrodes were implanted in their heads have adapted to a new life.
New EU rules also plan to ban the use of strays in European laboratories, a move welcomed by ADI who have been campaigning for this. The use of strays is banned in UK labs, but statistics released last year revealed that almost 700 experiments were performed on dogs that were not from designated suppliers and there is inevitably concern where these animals came from.
ADI has drawn up a manifesto of key demands for the revision of the new European lab rules and will be attending all the committee meetings in Brussels and Strasbourg. ADI representatives recently met with UK Home Office officials to submit draft proposals which include ending experiments on primates, and the use of animals in higher education, and household product testing. In a historic move ADI has already secured the backing of the European Parliament for bans on the use of apes and wild caught monkeys and a phase out of all primate experiments.
In addition to welcoming plans to ban tests on strays and to re-home laboratory cats and dogs, Animal Defenders International is calling for the eventual replacement of all animal tests to be at the heart of the law.
ADI/NAVS Chief Executive Jan Creamer says “It is tragic that with so many modern alternatives available, dogs and cats continue to suffer and die in laboratories. In the past, we believe that there has been resistance to re-homing animals because it reminds people that these are living, loving animals – just like their pets at home. Our rescues have proved that these are not specially bred animals, without feelings, that will not adapt to home life. Hopefully, we will see animals saved and the day brought closer when these cruel tests are no more.”
www.ad-international.org /
www.navs.org.uk
12-02-2009, 11:28 AM
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