Author: Sandra Kyle
Social Change And The 3.5% Rule
Non-violent resistance won voting rights for women, India its independence and black Americans their rights. It has also mobilised climate change, empowered the labor movement, closed down or cancelled dozens of nuclear plants, and any other number of other actions in social and political contexts.
When compared to armed or other violent action, non-violent resistance has also historically been the most effective. It is not always guaranteed to work however, and even those actions that are in the end successful, may come with short term despair about the inevitability and intractability of the status quo.
Erica Chenoweth from Harvard University studied hundreds of campaigns over the last century, and concluded that non-violent resistance achieved twice as many wins as violent, and what’s more, that when only 3.5% of the population is mobilised for change, every action ended in success.
Feature photo taken by Diego Casanova at the 2019 Official Animal Rights March in Auckland, New Zealand.
Read the article here:
World Animal Day – October 4th
MISSION OF WORLD ANIMAL DAY
To raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe. Building the celebration of World Animal Day unites the animal welfare movement, mobilising it into a global force to make the world a better place for all animals. It’s celebrated in different ways in every country, irrespective of nationality, religion, faith or political ideology. Through increased awareness and education we can create a world where animals are always recognised as sentient beings and full regard is always paid to their welfare.
See Website:
Gandhi’s Birthday An Opportunity to Remember Innocent Victims
There is an International Day for nearly everything, including the toilet, the frog, the coffee bean – and the farmed animal. On World Farmed Animal Day it is an opportunity to remember and mourn the 70 billion cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and other sentient land-based animals who lead lives of sheer misery in the world’s factory farms, and are then brutally slaughtered for our dinner table. End Animal Slaughter contributor LYNLEY TULLOCH urges us to stop turning the other way, and stand up and fight for their rights.
If you blinked you may have missed it. The 2nd October 2019 was the ‘World Day for Farmed Animals’. It is also Ghandi’s birthday. There seems to be a day for everything, even a ‘World Frog Day’ on March 20 and a ‘World Toilet Day’ coming up in November 19. I am still patiently waiting for ‘World Coffee Day’ – oh wait. It was on the 1st October. Not to mind, if I missed it. I drank my usual amount of black coffee on that day and celebrated it in private.
There is often an unexpected message behind many of these special days. For example ‘World Toilet Day’ was convened by United Nations and aims to raise awareness about sanitation issues across the globe. Apparently 2.5 billion people across the globe lack access to proper toilets. I am not sure if that includes the unpopular freedom campers here in New Zealand. But what about farmed animals? New Zealand has many more farmed animals than it does freedom campers. It is only fair that they get a look in. What is 2nd October mean for farmed animals? ‘World Day for Farmed Animals’ was set up in 1983 as part of an international campaign of Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), from Washington DC.
Here in New Zealand ‘World Day for Farmed Animals’ was marked by Slaughterhouse Vigils, which are part of the ANIMAL SAVE movement. In Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson and Whanganui, activists stood outside slaughter houses to honour the victims who were being killed behind closed doors.
Standing at the slaughter house gates is one way of making visible the suffering of animals. It is a rather unpalatable fact that in order to get onto your plate animals must first be farmed and killed. It all gets hidden behind closed doors and smelly transport trucks. And the killing is definitely out of sight. We are told it is ‘humane’ and that there are rules and regulations to ensure animals live well before being killed.
Call it humane if you want, but I am not convinced that having my brains electrocuted or shattered before my throat is cut would be my preferred form of death. I’d prefer to go out in my old age while I am sitting quietly drinking coffee, nursing a frog, and sharing the need for worldwide sanitation on social media. Well, anything really, apart from death by electrocution and stabbing. I think there should be a ‘World Day to Call a Spade a Spade’. No death this way is ever humane – and if you can’t say you would be happy having it done to you, then you have no business inflicting it on another living and sentient being.
It’s the reason I drink my coffee black and bitter. It matches my mood. I’m terribly bitter about the plight of farmed animals for a variety of reasons. I know humans have been domesticating and farming animals for about 10,000 years. I realize it is oftentimes regarded as a turning point in human evolution. I’m not here to judge my ancestors who have been dead for thousands of years. They might have lived and breathed, blood dribbling down their stubbly beards as they chomped into a half-cooked piece of meat, but I am not certain it justifies what we do to animals today.
My ancient ancestors did what they had to. They set their square jaws rather firmly, gathered up the goats on the hills and put them in a pen. I can’t argue with that. But I am here in 2019 in peace, with my coffee (no milk), feeling bitter about the calves who died for those who like cow’s milk in their coffee. Around 2 million calves are killed every year in New Zealand for the milk their mother’s make. These cows are impregnated with the express purpose of inducing lactation from birthing. ‘World Day for Farmed Animals’ was an opportunity to try and raise awareness of this, and other, unpalatable farming facts.
‘World Day for Farmed Animals’ is, like other days, an attempt to make visible some injustices in our world. Coffee growers often get paid unfairly for their produce – hence we have ‘World Coffee Day’. Frogs may become extinct. We have World Frog Day. Animals are raised in intense confinement and filth and killed by electrocution and stabbing. Literally billions of them in fact. Is one day enough?
The animals that are killed and farmed include newly hatched male chicks who are ground up alive or suffocated. Laying hens who are crammed in small wire cages. Pigs in gestation crates, pigs in gas chambers, piglets who have their curly tails cut off without anesthetic, dairy cows who have their calves taken from them, farmed fish who suffocate slowly. Newborn dairy goats whose heads are slammed on concrete.
Gandhi, whose birthday it was on ‘World Day for Farmed Animals’, famously said: “Be the change you want to see in the world”. So I try. I don’t eat animals or animal products. I rescue bobby calves. I try. It is all any of us can ever do.
We have nearly a whole year to prepare for the next ‘World Day for Farmed Animals’. During that time more than 70 billion land will be killed for food globally. The scale and the suffering are unimaginable.
Don’t blink next year. Stand up and fight for their lives. All 70 billion of them.
Fish Feel Pain
Antiquated ideas about fish not being able to feel pain and lacking the brain structure necessary for a subjective experience of the world still persist, despite a growing body of evidence to the contrary. Through line fishing, deep sea fishing, commercial fishing, and factory farming, we continue to subject trillions of sentient beings to pain and suffocation every year.
QUOTE FROM FEATURED ARTICLE:
“I recently learned of a culinary tradition, still practiced today, known as ikizukuri: eating the raw flesh of a living fish. You can find videos online. In one, a chef covers a fish’s face with a cloth and holds it down as he shaves off its scales with something like a crude cheese grater. He begins to slice the fish lengthwise with a large knife, but the creature leaps violently from his grasp and somersaults into a nearby sink. The chef reclaims the fish and continues slicing away both its flanks. Blood as dark as pomegranate juice spills out. He immerses the fish in a bowl of ice water as he prepares the sashimi. The whole fish will be served on a plate with shaved daikon and shiso leaves, rectangular chunks of its flesh piled neatly in its hollowed side, its mouth and gills still flapping, and the occasional shudder rippling across the length of its body”.
Read the article from Hakai magazine here
For up to date information about fish sentience follow fishfeel.org
Bolivian Fires Kill Millions of Wild Animals
Who suffers the most in our stewardship of the earth? The animals, that’s who.
Unprecedented droughts because of climate change, as well as government policy, have led to agonising deaths for millions of wild animals in Bolivia.
Read the article
All Hands On Deck For the Animals!
Animal Activist Carl D Scott offers his thoughts on activism, and states that veganism is the least, not the most, we can do.
Carl D Scott is an animal rights activist and blogger based in the city of Ōtepoti/Dunedin, in Aotearoa/New Zealand. He attracted national media attention some years ago when he locked himself in a small cage on the side of the road for a month, to highlight the plight of caged hens.
There are many, many, MANY different ways to do activism.
It can be as simple as talking to friends and family about veganism. It can be other things like posting on social media, blogging, and running websites; vegan outreach; movie screenings; public talks, seminars, or workshops; vegan cooking classes; hosting vegan potlucks; posters, billboards, stickering; vegan festivals and expos; vegan barbecues, cupcake stalls, or other forms of food outreach; art, music, performance; writing and publishing magazines and books; photography, videos, podcasts; lobbying businesses, politicians, and other influencers; media commentary; AV Cubes; SAVE vigils; DxE disruptions; protests like The Official Animal Rights March or Rodeo protests; and all the other types of activism right through the spectrum, to disruptions, investigations, open rescues, and direct action lock ons.
Additionally, donating money to individuals (sometimes through a Patreon account) or groups doing activism, can even be thought of as a form of activism in itself.
Not everyone can or wants to do disruptions, protests, or direct actions, for a whole range of legitimate reasons. Some have physical or mental health problems. Others experience significant anxiety in social situations, especially when it involves tension or confrontation. Others have family commitments. Some people have to be mindful how activism will impact on their careers. Others are already very busy involved with other activist causes and movements.
And that’s all ok. All of us have different strengths, talents, and abilities. Each of us has something unique to bring to the table. We each have our niche within the movement. We all have something important and valuable to contribute.
But each of us must contribute in whatever ways we can, if we can. It is simply not fair to let a small handful of activists do all the work.
The problem of animal exploitation is gargantuan in scale. It is estimated that nearly 3 trillion animals are killed by our species every year. The problem is also extreme in severity. Most of the 75 billion land animals we kill annually live their short miserable existences in the hell-on-earth nightmares, we call factory farms. This means severe levels of suffering, often over long periods of weeks, months, or even years. And they all – land animals and marine animals alike – die violent, horrible deaths, usually at a very young age, and always against their will to live.
Then there is the massive and serious environmental destruction being caused by industrial animal agriculture and the commercial fishing industry. There are also the millions of people in the West dying needlessly from diseases of excess caused at least in part from consumption of animal products, while other millions in poor nations starve to death because we are giving food they could be eating to farmed animals. Animals also suffer and die in entertainment, for clothing, for scientific research, teaching, and testing, and in other ways too. There are other associated human rights issues as well.
Let’s be frank about this. Let’s say it out loud. We are trying to end the most horrific injustice in history. The suffering and death involved in the animal exploitation industries is not a ‘problem’ or an ‘issue’. It is a crisis. An emergency. Every year we drag our heels, another 2.8 trillion (approximately) animals suffer and die. I truly believe we can win this. With climate change being a major issue, and with animal agriculture being a major culprit, people are finally listening.
If we’re going to get anywhere, we need all hands on deck. We need as many vegans as possible to be activists. And we need every activist to do as much activism as they can, as often as they can, in whatever ways they can.
However…. This has got to be said. History has proven again and again and again, that the more confronting methods of activism, such as disruptions and direct actions are actually the most effective methods for creating rapid and meaningful change. King, Gandhi, and countless others have demonstrated that. It simply cannot be disputed.
So the bottom line is this: The more people we have doing the more confronting forms of activism, the faster we will make progress.
Photo credit: Diego Casanova
Yes, they do have to be well managed to achieve maximum impact. All forms of activism should strive to reach the highest levels of professionalism possible to achieve credibility for our cause, and to effectively win hearts and minds. As well as being well organised, hopefully it goes without saying that such actions need to be non-violent.
We shouldn’t let the desire for high standards stop us from getting out there and giving it a go. Everyone has to start somewhere. And while I would always encourage people to do some homework before they do something, I would also say that we shouldn’t let our lack of experience stop us from getting out there and giving it our best shot. Almost all of the experienced, veteran activists made mistakes when they were starting out. I think they forget that sometimes.
We are human. We all make mistakes. It’s inevitable and unavoidable. And it’s ok. As long as we learn from them, and keep trying to get better as we go. I’ve made many mistakes in my activism. I will probably make more. But I keep trying to do better, and ultimately that’s all anyone can ask of anyone. That we do our best, and keep trying to do better.
And while some vegans genuinely can’t do activism, many of us who are active feel extremely frustrated by what we perceive as apathy or laziness by people who really, actually could be doing more. Those of us who are out there busting our guts to make progress, while others seem content to sit on the sidelines and let us do all the work have a right to feel frustrated by that, and to express that frustration. Don’t we? Why should it only be a tiny handful doing everything? Is that fair?
If you know about the problems, and you understand the solutions, you have a moral duty to do something about it. That can take different forms, but we must all contribute. Being vegan is not the most we can do. It is the very least.
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Carl’s Youtube Channel
Slaughterhouse Vigil, Land Meats, Whanganui, 22 September, 2019
End Animal Slaughter’s Sandra Kyle does vigils under the banner of the Animal Save Movement, a worldwide organisation bearing witness to animals going to slaughter.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE VIGIL, Whanganui, 22 September 2019
I have been doing weekly vigils for so long now that it’s likely many people don’t bother reading about them any more. Four years of blogging about standing outside a slaughterhouse with my signs, once – now twice – a week. It must all get tiresomely repetitive. I have always tried to make my reports interesting, to keep drawing attention to the existence of these infernal places. Like a flea that won’t go away, I persist. But I’m also getting a bit tired of it all. So today I’ll be briefer, spare my efforts for once. I just want to say a few words about Cow No. 174.
I was able to get close to her because she arrived behind another truck being unloaded, and it was parked just outside the slaughterhouse boundary. I ached to put my hand inside the truck and stroke her and her sisters, but the groundsman was there, his phone at the ready to ring the Plant Manager, who has threatened to call the police. I had forgotten to charge my Bluetooth speaker so I had no music to play. Instead, I spoke to her and her sisters to try to comfort them. ‘Hey baby, how you doing? What a beautiful girl you are. How do you feel my lovely? Don’t be frightened. It’s alright. Everything is going to be alright. Don’t worry about anything my sweet girl!’
I nearly choked with despair at the inanity of my words. Of course it wasn’t alright! How could it be alright? She was going to spend a cold, hungry and frightened night in a pen and then someone was going to beat her with a stick, or electrocute her with a rod, to get her to walk up a ramp where someone was waiting to shatter her brains, and someone else was waiting to open her neck.
I nearly choked with despair at the inanity of my words. Of course it wasn’t alright! How could it be alright? She was going to spend a cold, hungry and frightened night in a pen and then someone was going to beat her with a stick, or electrocute her with a rod, to get her to walk up a ramp where someone was waiting to shatter her brains, and someone else was waiting to open her neck.
Tomorrow morning the blood of Number 174 will be splattered on the apron of her slaughterer and pooled on the concrete floor where he stands. Her heart will be thumping and throat will be tight up to the moment she loses consciousness, her last moments filled with fear and loneliness. And there’s not one single thing I can do to save her.
I know by common yardsticks some would call me a fool for doing these vigils and my other efforts to help animals. But I think that’s because such people are using the wrong criteria to judge me. I’m no longer a Christian, but I remember that somewhere in Corinthians it says: ‘For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.’ I have my own criteria. I know where to seek, and how to listen. I’m just not listening to the same things they are.
Meteor, the fugitive from slaughter, will probably have his life spared
It is not only Meteor the fugitive yak who should be spared from slaughter. All animals should be, writes End Animal Slaughter contributor LYNLEY TULLOCH
When animals escape from the slaughter house truck, there is often media interest. I often wonder what it is about this scenario that captures the public imagination so much?
A recent story reported by BBC news, concerns an “aloof yak” who has gone on the run following his escape from a farm truck on the way to the butcher. This yak has a name – Meteor – and he has been raised for meat on a small family farm in Buckingham, in Rural Virginia.
After his escape, it is reported that Meteor crashed through a stop sign. He also visited several locations, including the grounds of Orchard House Bed and Breakfast. He looked “happy to be there” according to the B&B owner Deb Verplank. However, when an animal control officer and four policemen showed, Meteor didn’t hang around. “I really think Meteor knew what was going on and where he was headed, and decided it wasn’t for him” said Verplank.
It strikes me as strange that one of the very reasons people feel comfortable with eating animals (their diminished rationality) now stands out as the reason that he should be saved. Verplank called him ‘smart’, and wants him to live. Is Meteor a stand-alone intelligent bull who deserves to live, whereas the rest must die? I don’t think Meteor is smarter than other bulls, and even if he is, this should not be a reason to save his life.
I don’t think Meteor is smarter than other bulls, and even if he is, this should not be a reason to save his life.
Having raised bovines myself I know that they will attempt to sav themselves when in perceived danger. Being on a moving truck is terrifying for them, and given the opportunity, a single animal will do anything possible to find his way back to the safety of the herd. The movement, the noise of the engine and other loud, unusual sounds and smells will spook any bovine. Meteor managed to escape, but he is no different from any other bull. He is not a hero, but a desperate animal who knows his life is in danger, and is trying to get back to safety.
Right now Meteor will be terrified, alone, without a herd, and let down in the worst possible way by the people who claimed to care for him – the farmers themselves, who were sending him to slaughter.
Right now Meteor will be terrified, alone, without a herd, and let down in the worst possible way by the people who claimed to care for him – the farmers themselves, who were sending him to slaughter.
There is also another theme that emerges during these kind of escapes. The animals are often referred to using language suited for an escaped prisoner. The BBC reported that Meteor was ‘on the loose’ and ‘missing’ and ‘currently on the run’. So on the one hand, Meteor has become a minor celebrity and on the other, he is a felon. He is the felon that everyone is rooting for, even while they tuck into a beef burger.
I know a lot of people find his story amusing. I just find it desperately sad. Meteor is said to have headed for the mountains. He has his freedom, but he will be suffering. He has lost the only home he ever knew, and the herd he belonged to as well. He will be feeling very vulnerable and traumatized.
The layers of meaning attached to Meteor’s story is typical of such stories. The animal is smart, knew his fate, attempted a daring escape and therefore deserves to live. It looks like Meteor’s life may be spared, as ‘owner’ Robert Cissell was reported as saying that he would ‘live out his life, now he is a celebrity’.
I really hope Meteor is allowed to live out his natural life. All animals deserve to, Meteor included.
See also:
Cow swam for over 5 hours in a desperate attempt to escape certain death, but was slaughtered that night.
REFLECTIONS FROM A TRAVELLING VEGAN
End Animal Slaughter contributor MAYA COHEN-ROHEN’S family getaway triggered reflections on the ugly reality behind New Zealand’s picturesque fields and peaceful herds.
A ski-ing holiday was just the ticket for vegan mother and author, Maya Cohen-Ronen
My family has Just returned from a fantastic three-day stay at and around the Whakapapa ski field, Ruapehu, one of New Zealand’s premiere alpine locations. From our home in Wellington, the capital, we travelled by car all the way north to Lake Taupo in the middle of the North Island, and back again. There are no complaints about the weather – Mother Nature turned on both some beautiful dry spells, as well as a snow blizzard! It was a lovely experience up on the ski field to look out and see a layer of fresh powdery snow brighten the slopes.
It was a family escape, a welcomed break, and also a memorable experience. We had no trouble finding vegan food and we were served a sumptuous vegan high tea in our hotel. Everything was fantastic about our holiday, except for two things.
The first, which most New Zealand animal guardians would recognise, is the painful inability to travel with companion animals in our country. It is near-impossible to find a hotel with a policy of accepting animals, and even leaving them in the car while walking out and about is strictly prohibited in places like the Tongariro National Park. We had no choice but to book our dog Phoebe into a kennel on the way. It was a good facility, but we were saddened to leave her behind. She, of course, did not understand that it was just a temporary arrangement, so the sense of betrayal was excruciating. Compared with how easy it was to travel almost everywhere with our beloved Luther (Rip) when we lived in Scotland, New Zealand is lagging way behind.
The family’s beloved dog Phoebe goes with them everywhere.
The second, is… we saw so many cows.
SO. MANY. COWS.
FIELDS AND FIELDS of cows.
Some were males, some dairy cows, some bulls, some heifers. Slaves one and all to the profiteers of the meat and dairy industries. Short-lived victims of oblivious addicts to their flesh and secretions. I wonder how people who cannot live without their steak and cheese see them as they stand, innocent and peaceful, in the fields. Sometimes I think they don’t even see them at all.
But we did. And it was horrid. It is now spring, calving season. As we were arriving we gushed at fields full of beautiful, precious young babies. On our way home, these babies were already separated from their mothers so the lactating, grieving cows could “give us” their milk. So young and helpless, some of the calves were not even ready to stand yet! We also saw a lot of sheep and adorable lambs everywhere. The lambs were all so playful. I saw one running to her mother, who was calling her, just like my daughter would run to me. Somewhere else, two curious babies were exploring a little pond together. They were all so cute and childlike, oblivious to the fate of cruel, bloody slaughter awaiting them in just a few months. Seeing all this I was angry. I felt like screaming. This is all because of us. Flesh eating zombies move amongst us! The cafeteria at Whakapapa stank with the stench of rotting corpses covered in sauce. Can meat-eaters even smell the stink of their choices, I wonder?
If you consume meat and dairy, please wake up! Open your eyes and see what vegans see! Stop being the cause of innocent animals suffering.
Release yourselves from the matrix and exit gracefully. You will never regret it.
Maya is the author of a dystopian thriller ‘The Shed’, and is currently working on her second book.
Horrific slaughter of whales in the name of culture and tradition
Although the International Whaling Commission was set up in 1942 to help whales recover from over-hunting, whale slaughter is still carried out by nations who defend it as their cultural heritage.
Last week the waters of a peaceful bay in the Danish Faroe Islands turned red as their annual whale hunt took place. End Animal Slaughter contributor LYNLEY TULLOCH describes the gruesome killing of whales in the second of her ‘Slaughterhouses of the Sea’ series.
Recent reports of a whale hunt (called a grindadráp, or grind) in the Faroe islands, 400 miles of the coast of the UK, gave me the chills. This was the tenth grind this year, where 536 pilot whales have been killed in total, butchered after fishermen drove the whales into shore. They were slaughtered without mercy as the sea turned red (feature photo). Images of children and adults dismembering the whales amid laughter and chatter, while tourists snap photos, is horrifying. One photo showed a fully formed pup lying perfectly formed, nestled among her dead mother’s organs.
A perfectly formed pup inside their butchered mother
The Faroe islanders call their whale grind, practiced since the time Norsemen first settled there, a humane and sustainable custom. They say that respect is shown to the whales. And yet reports suggest that it is a depraved blood fest with many whales dying prolonged and agonizing deaths. Attempts to paralyze some whales with a lance before killing them has multiple failure attempts. After paralyzing them, men tie ropes with metal hooks around the whales and drag them to shore to be killed. They slice through the whale’s spinal cord and main artery, keeping one hand behind the blow hole. The blood flows into the water staining it a bright red. And they carry this out amid children.
Reports suggest that it is a depraved blood fest with many whales dying prolonged and agonising deaths.
Pilot whales are not actually whales. They are part of the dolphin family, but get very large. They are generally friendly and sociable, and do not usually harm humans. It makes their horrifying deaths excruciatingly sad.
New Zealand has its own horror stories when it comes to whales. Despite currently having some of the best whale protection laws in the world, we once killed whales with the same abandon shown by the Faroe islanders. Research by Anne M Creason has shown that “Visitors to New Zealand in the mid-1800s commented on the indiscriminate practices of whalers in killing female whales and calves. Creason argues that Maori people traditionally consider whales as taonga (treasure), a sacred gift from Tangaroa (God of the sea) and that this has heavily influenced the strong whale protection stance we currently have.
Maori people traditionally consider whales as taonga (treasure), a sacred gift from Tangaroa, God of the Sea.
Culture most definitely influences our views and treatment of nonhuman animals, and whales are no exception. Commercial whaling has been banned in most countries owing to concerns of extinction from over hunting during the 18th and 19th centuries. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was set up in 1942 to help whales recover. On 23 July 1982, members of the IWC voted to implement a pause on commercial whaling and signed a moratorium.
But not all nations are on board with this. There are still three main whaling nations – Japan , Norway and Iceland. These nations practice commercial whaling. Norway filed an objection to the moratorium, and now kills more than 400 minke whales a year. Japan has recently withdrawn from the International Whaling Commission and so is no longer subject to its laws. In Japan whale meat is highly prized. After 30 years of no commercial whaling, it has begun the killing again, in earnest. Even before this, Japan killed whales for what it claimed were ‘research purposes’. For example, last year, under the banner of research Japan went into Ross Sea – an area of the Antarctica set aside for special protection – and killed 50 minke whales.
‘Bombed’ whale is hauled into a Japanese whaler
The worst part is that commercial killing of whales is a destructive and violent act, causing immense pain and prolonged agony in many cases. Commercial whaling fleets kill whales with an explosive 30-gram penthrite grenade-armed harpoon. They often finish the job with a second grenade and high powered rifles. The explosives go off once the harpoon is embedded a foot into the whale’s flesh. While this is supposed to cause sufficient brain damage to knock the whale out in seconds, it is definitely not an exact science.
Q&A: Tara Jackson, Executive Director, New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society
All Over the World animals live barren lives in laboratory cages, and endure painful and disfiguring procedures in the name of science.
But it is ‘bad science’, producing invalid results, and superior alternatives to cruel animal testing now exist. It is time to bring it to an end.
TARA JACKSON, Executive Director of the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society answers our questions.
1 Tara, what are the statistics around laboratory testing on animals in New Zealand? Is it different from comparable countries, say Australia and the US?
In NZ animals manipulated for claimed scientific purposes are categorised by the government into three groups — research, testing and teaching (RTT).
Approximately 300,000 animals are used for research, testing and teaching (RTT) in NZ every year.
New Zealand’s latest animal usage statistics (compiled and released by the NZ government) can be found on this page
The most commonly used animals for RTT in 2016 were cows, sheep, fish, mice and birds with cows ranking at #1. In other countries the most commonly used animals for claimed scientific purposes are normally mice or rats. In NZ we are unique in that a lot of research goes into trying to enhance the animal agriculture industry, which explains why cows and sheep ranked the #1 and #2 most used animal in RTT in 2016. You can read more about this here https://nzavs.org.nz/articles/vivisection-and-agriculture/
2 Where are they tested on, and who by?
At least 139 different facilities across NZ use animals for RTT.
We don’t have a complete list of all the facilities who use animals for RTT in NZ. We only have access to the list of facilities which had an approved code of ethical conduct or had a notified arrangements to use an approved code in 2016 here.
In short, places that use animals for research, testing or teaching purposes can be found all over NZ. Universities, Commercial organisations, Crown Research Institutes, Government departments, Polytechnics and Schools all use animals for RTT purposes in NZ.
Most animal labs will be well hidden, and you may walk or drive past one on a daily basis without even knowing. For example, the University of Otago’s animal lab is on the top story of the Hercus Building which is right in the heart of Dunedin.
3 Can you give us some examples of the type of tests animals endure and the reasons for them?
Animal testing and experimentation is often detrimental to the individual animals involved. Examples happening in NZ include:
- Forcing animals to inhale toxic substances
- Force-feeding or injecting animals with potentially lethal substances
- Subjecting animals to situations whereby they are deprived of their basic needs (food, water, shelter, sunlight, air, companionship)
- Putting animals in terrifying situations to create depression and anxiety
- Creating illness, disease or injury deliberately by subjecting healthy animals to invasive medical procedures such as removing organs or tissues.
- Killing animals to use their bodies in dissections.
- Purposefully breeding animals to create offspring that are more susceptible to disease, pain or distress during their life.
One example of an awful animal test happening in NZ is the Forced Swim Test. The Forced Swim Test is a cruel and invalid animal test that is used as a misguided attempt to mimic depression or hopelessness in humans. A small animal, usually a mouse or rat, is given an experimental treatment and then placed into a beaker partially filled with water.
Unable to escape, the animal will paddle desperately until they give up and float. Many animals are terrified. The amount of time that the animal spends struggling versus floating is measured. The claim is that when animals spend more time floating, they are deemed to be more “depressed.” See a short video demonstrating this here. You can find out more about this test here https://nzavs.org.nz/forced-swim-test/
4 Animals are not being tested on all the time. Describe their life in a laboratory.
There is no one mould that fits all animals for this, some animals will spend their entire life without seeing sunlight or breathing in fresh air in an overcrowded cage with nothing but a paper towel to play with, while others will spend their lives in spacious paddocks with other animals.
There are also breeding units in NZ where animals are used for RTT and then returned back to the breeding unit until the next time they are “needed.”
5 Many animals are sacrificed for classroom biology experiments. What do you say about vivisection in our schools?
There are so many teaching methods available that don’t involve the use of animals (dead or alive), it is utterly pointless to dissect animal bodies.
From amazing virtual learning, books and sophisticated models to computer models, the animal-free options are endless! Animals don’t need to be sacrificed for their anatomy to be learnt by high school students, humane education is the way forward for animals and students.
There are many reasons why humane education is better than harmfully using animals including:
Animals are saved
Some animals are bred and killed for the sole purpose of being used in animal dissections. If a humane alternative is used instead, these animals can be rehomed, or they may never have been bred for this purpose in the first place! Animals are sentient and should be treated with love and respect, they should not be treated as if they are mere lab tools.
Dissecting animals may also teach students that the right, and perhaps only way to study biology is to kill animals and take them apart which we know isn’t true. It’s important that children learn to have compassion for animals and to recognise each animal’s inherent worth.
The impact on student well-being is minimised
No student is going to be negatively emotionally impacted by using a humane teaching method. However, the same cannot be said for teaching exercises that harm animals. For the students who don’t disconnect with what is happening, they could be left with psychological trauma. Stressful situations like this may also put students off wanting to pursue a career in science.
Learning outcomes are achieved
Students often perform just as well, if not better when using non-animal alternatives. These alternatives can be repeated to consolidate learning and they remove the emotional trauma that animal dissections can cause some students. Learning can be impacted by a negative emotional state, students that are uncomfortable when participating in an animal-based teaching exercise, may not learn or retain information as well.
Humane Education fulfills already existing guidelines
The principle of Replacement is promoted in NZ law. This principle states that institutes and individuals should replace the use of animals in teaching by substituting for animals, where appropriate, non-sentient or non-living alternatives, or by imparting the information in another way.
Many non-animal alternatives for dissection exist and students can meet their learning goals without using animals, so it is our ethical responsibility to use non-animal alternatives instead of animals.
When schools and tertiary institutes choose to use Humane Education to teach their students, they fulfill already existing guidelines such as the Principle of Replacement.
6 What are the alternatives to animal testing?
The short answer: There are so many viable methods of research, testing and teaching that don’t involve the harmful use of animals!
The long answer: There are many different types of research, testing and teaching and there are viable non-animal-based methods for many of these.
There is also a strong need for more non-animal-based methods to be developed — Where there are gaps there are also opportunities to create viable and humane methods.
Animals are not appropriate models for predicting the human response so when it comes to finding viable research methods for medical advancement, we need to make sure our start point is accurate — this is where human-relevant research is important
Non-animal based and human relevant methods include using scanning technologies, micro-dosing, microfluidic devices, isolated organs, sophisticated computer programs, human tissues or organ systems, Epidemiology and more! Read about these humane and viable methods here https://nzavs.org.nz/the-solutions
7 Do you think our Government needs to legislate against animal testing?
Absolutely. Instead of sticking to what has always been done, we should strive for what is best, both ethically and scientifically, and that is ending all animal experimentation.
At NZAVS our mission is to end animal experimentation and the harmful use of animals for research, testing and teaching in Aotearoa New Zealand – for animals, people and science.
Find out more and join our cause here https://nzavs.org.nz
Thankyou for your time, Tara!
