How rats have been used in NZ
Rats (and mice) are often the animals of choice to try and model human conditions, treatment and body functions (even though we know that using animals to try and model people fails over 95% of the time).1
Mice and rats are commonly used due to their small size, low maintenance (i.e., they are easy to house and care for), short life cycle, and ability to breed quickly (allowing large numbers to be generated for studies). They also share many of our genes.2 However, that's not surprising. Even cats share many of our genes.3
Rats are mainly used for basic biological research, medical research, and environmental management in New Zealand. To a lesser extent, they are used for teaching and animal husbandry research.
Rats in NZ have been used for:
- Drug research, including safety and efficiency testing
- For teaching purposes in schools, mainly dissections
- Studying the spread and extermination of wild rats
- Disease research, including research into:
- the development of severe diseases (for example, stroke, diabetes, cancer)
- modelling neurological disorders (for example, Schizophrenia, Autism)
- modelling mood disorders (for example, anxiety, depression)
- tinnitus
- Drug addiction research, including research into:
- development of addiction
- suppression of addiction
- results of drug use
- Basic biological research into
- brain functions
- digestion
- ageing
- nerve damage
- obesity
This is not a comprehensive list. For more details and referenced examples of how mice are used, see the case studies section at the bottom of this page.
High Impact Studies with rats
Every year, the NZ Government reports on the use of animals for science that was rated as high or very high impact (i.e. cause the most harm or stress to the animals involved). Those are either very severe, very long in duration, or both.
In 2020, 273 rats were rated this way:
- 81 laboratory-bred Norway rats were graded E as part of testing a new toxin for rat control.
- 78 wild-caught ship rats were graded E as part of toxic bait trials testing the efficacy and bait types for rat control
- 34 rats, graded E, were used in trials to test different kill traps against the NAWAC kill trap testing protocol.
- 48 rats, graded D, were used in a test of the Victor Professional Rat Trap (as per NAWAC Class B, they need to lose consciousness within 3 minutes).
- 32 rat deaths were classed as grade E due to death by brodifacoum poisoning. Brodifacoum causes death by slow internal bleeding, which was likely to cause pain of moderate intensity for a long duration.
In 2019, 81 rats were rated this way:
- Rats were used in testing the efficacy of baits containing a kea repellent (so the keas wouldn’t eat the rat poison).
- Three captured wild rats became distressed and died in a trial investigating the potential for deterrents to prevent them from crossing a border.
Overview
HOW RATS WERE USED FOR SCIENCE IN NZ: |
Purpose |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
Basic biological research |
7,243 |
5,620 |
4,308 |
Veterinary research |
53 |
85 |
0 |
Teaching |
1,274 |
518 |
507 |
Animal husbandry research |
50 |
392 |
881 |
Medical research |
1,671 |
4,682 |
505 |
Testing |
96 |
44 |
12 |
Environmental management |
11,511 |
1,892 |
769 |
Species conservation |
58 |
78 |
24 |
Production of biological agents |
3 |
0 |
0 |
Development of alternatives |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Producing offspring with compromised welfare |
137 |
10 |
0 |
Other |
126 |
0 |
101 |
Total number used |
22,222 |
13,321 |
7,107 |
Animals killed |
21,071 |
11,986 |
5,958 |
Animals killed that were bred but not used |
NA |
19,996 |
21,602 |
Total number including those bred and killed but weren't used |
NA |
33,317 |
28,709 |
Where rats have been used
Most universities have their own breeding colonies. Otago University states on their website that they have a dedicated rat testing room in the Behavioural Phenotyping Unit.4 And you might remember our efforts to prevent them from building a $50 million animal lab. Sadly, some schools and higher education institutes still use dissections in their teaching. Find out more.
Where rats have been sourced from
Rats are often sourced from breeding units at the respective institutions. Less often, they are bought from public sources or captured. Many are simply born during projects. Find out more.
Take action!
-
Learn about the many ways that you can help end animal experimentation.
Further reading
- Learn something new about rats.
- Return to the main Case Studies page.
- Learn about the alternatives and replacement methods that can be used instead of animals.
- Read about why animal testing is both ethically and scientifically flawed.