Question: What are the advantages of using animals in your experiments, as sometimes it may end their lives and if this animal cruelty keeps happening, then more and more animals will become extinct?!

Joanna Cruden answered on 22 Jun 2012:

Animals used for experiments in research laboratories are bred specifically for research, they have to be brought from designated suppliers. The animals are kept yo a very high welfare standard and protected by many laws. They have vets on call 24 hours a day every day of the year and people who are there to care for them and investigate refinements in their care and welfare.

For environmental studies the animals are carefully selected and studies are carried out by experts who are looking for ways to stop the animals becoming extinct.

For general animal research it does not often end in the animals death (otherwise people would not let their pets be used) and again a great deal of care is taken that the stress to the animal is kept to a minimum.

Under the Laboratory Animal Act all laboratory animals have to be humanely euthanised after an experiment, most animals used are mice and rats. The studies often last for many months and some for the animals lifespan. Not only that but to find out how a drug or a condition interacts with the body the animals have to dissected to gather the results.

I hope this reassures you that the animals won’t become extinct through research and also that the animals in laboratories or who undergo any research and protected by laws and looked after to very high standards, their welfare is the most important aspect of the welfare work and the medical research.