WHAT IS VIVISECTION?

Vivisection is the practice of animal experimentation

This typically involves using and manipulating animals for teaching, testing or research purposes in ways that cause distress and/or death. Usually animal experimentation is carried out as an attempt to test the safety of drugs and biological products or to find treatments, preventions, or cures for human diseases.

SO WHAT’S WRONG WITH IT?

ISN'T THIS HOW WE FIND LIFE SAVING DRUGS?

No. The belief that animal-based research is a “necessary evil” is a proven misconception. In reality, animal-based research is delaying the medical advancements that we all want and hope for. Non-animal based/ human-based research is far more applicable and relevant to humans. This is the kind of research that we advocate for as we believe that resources, time and lives shouldn’t be wasted on methods that aren’t the best or most scientifically sound - The future of human health is worth more than that.
IT JUST DOESN'T WORK

FLAWED FINDINGS

Expecting a human to react the same as any given animal is about as reliable as flipping a coin. This is because of the many differences that exist between species. We just can not predict which (if any), other animals will have the same reaction as humans.

This can create misleading data which may result in substances being graded as safe when they are not and on the contrary, we may abandon useful medical treatments due to their negative response in animal trials.

We have seen findings from animal experimentation prolong and mislead the discovery of potential drugs in many different medical fields, including stroke research, HIV vaccine research, and diabetes research.

EXTREME CRUELTY

Because it’s legal, many people believe that the animals used in animal-based experiments won’t feel any pain or fear. This is unfortunately not true. Animal ethics committees permit tests that you wouldn’t wish upon your worst enemy. From rats being force-fed ecstasy as an attempt to measure drug addiction in humans to live pigs being shot in the head to try and replicate blood spatter patterns in humans. The evidence that animals used for research, teaching and testing experience high levels of pain and discomfort is obvious.

PROLONGED DEATH

SURGERY WITHOUT ANAESTHETIC

POISONED TO TEST TOXICITY

EXTREME TEMPERATURES

WATER & FOOD DEPRIVATION

NEW ZEALAND VIVISECTION

Approximately 300,000 animals are used for research, testing and teaching every year in NZ. Around 90,000 of these are killed during or after experiments. Most animals used for research, testing and teaching in NZ are used to enhance the agricultural industry. Many animals are also used in repetitive teaching experiments. Learn more about vivisection in NZ here.

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