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AUSTRALIA
WHAT IS VIVISECTION? Vivisection literally means ‘cutting up’ – the practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research. Vivisection is cruel, unreliable and unnecessary. Most studies are curiosity-driven and have no tangible benefit to humans. Vivisection leads to the unnecessary deaths of millions of animals per year and can involve drugging, burning, addicting, freezing, infecting, surgically mutilating and isolating animals, often with no pain relief or anaesthetics.
HOW MANY ANIMALS ARE USED? In 2016, in Victoria alone, 1,080,136 animals were used in experiments. In New South Wales, 4,977,239 animals were used. The approximate total number of animals used in Australia in 2016 was over 9 million.
ANIMALS IN AUSTRALIAN LABORATORIES In Australia, 115,663 experiments subjected to animals coming under major physiological challenge. Experiments in this category require the animal to remain conscious for some or all of the procedure. There is interference with the animal’s physiological or psychological processes and the challenge causes a moderate or large degree of pain/distress, which is not quickly or effectively alleviated. 22,689 experiments included death as the ’end point’ of procedures. The aim of these studies require the
animals to die unassisted as researchers claim death is ‘a critical measure of the experimental treatment’. In 219,377 experiments, animals were subjected to procedures under anaesthetic, and were not allowed to recover. 308,138 experiments involved the production of genetically-modified animals. The category of ‘understanding human or animal biology’ used 3,434,552 animals – yet human diseases remained uncured and are increasing at an alarming rate.
Animals used in experiments include cows, horses, donkeys, native mammals, exotic ‘feral’ animals, primates, rodents, fish, birds and reptiles. Animals used for experiments suffer not just the tests, but also solitary confinement, cramped environments and over-crowding in cages, resulting in multibreeding, fighting, cannibalism and suffocation. Primates may be born in captivity, bred in captivity, or caught in the wild overseas, often leaving their babies alone to die. Monkeys housed on farms may never see daylight. Their life is one of incarceration, experimentation and death. Laboratory animals are killed by having their necks broken, being gassed with aversive and painful CO2, or having their heads cut off with scissors. Death may not be immediate.