Are the animals well looked after?

Are the animals well looked after?

Oxford University claim:

Oxford is committed to the highest standards of animal welfare. The well- being of animals in research is extremely important, and all those working with animals take their care very seriously. The monkeys’ housing includes plenty of features which encourage a range of normal behaviours

Most research on animals causes little or no discomfort, such as drawing blood samples. Every attempt is made to maximise well-being, and animals are given painkillers and anaesthetics when necessary.

SPEAK’s response:

According to the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights (adopted at UNESCO headquarters in 1978), wild animals (e.g. Monkeys) have the right to live in their natural environment. In addition, experiments on animals entailing physical or psychological suffering violate the rights of animals. Animals in cages suffer from the stress of being confined to unnatural conditions, with very little freedom of movement; they are subjected to experimental procedures, most of which are carried out without anaesthetic. Some experiments may last for weeks, months and even years.

That Oxford University gives so little time to detailing the status of the animals in their “care” shows how little regard they actually have for these animals’ lives. Their answer suggests that the vast majority of their experiments is limited to taking blood samples. This is an understatement at best, and a downright lie at worst. Regular blood sampling is performed by rote as part of any experiment, but constitutes only a fraction of the procedures carried out during any research project. It is designed to provide information for the calibration of data to later be documented as part of the inevitable scientific paper published at the end of experiments to advance researcher’s foothold on the Ladder of Status. Blood samples are taken from experimental animals across the board, whether they are kittens that have had their eyes sewn up, monkeys that have been lobotomised, chemically paralysed or marked for destruction.