Posted on April 20, 2009 by: WayCoolDogs

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Statements from Laboratory Research staff:

• Having seen how some people keep their pets and the cruelty inflicted through, at best ignorance but often indifference, I don’t think it’s safe to assume that animals at home are always having a good time. In fact, in a lot of cases they would probably be better off in the lab at least as far as regular food, cleanliness and caring goes.

• Although it’s been illegal in the UK since 1906 to supply stray or ‘Pound’ dogs for research, I remember the time when we worked with dogs and cats who were ex-pets. It was emotionally very disturbing and all the techs and the majority of the researchers I worked with found this circumstance extremely difficult to tolerate, even though we knew that the owners had willingly surrendered/sold their pets to our supplier. We were lucky in that the researchers used to turn a ‘blind’ eye to our re-homing schemes and entered into the records that the animals for whom we found a new home had died from ‘natural’ causes.

• Since the advent of the Animals [Scientific Procedures] Act 1986 all dogs and cats must originate from registered breeders, except in circumstances where a project license authorizes research which is breed-specific. Over the last few years we have been working with varying degrees of success on re-homing programs for our ex-research dogs (Barley). MORE . . .

• Dogs used in research must be obtained from sources authorized by the USDA. Laboratory dogs are either bred specifically for research (purpose bred) or are obtained from various sources (random source): purpose bred dogs, bred by USDA-licensed dealers specifically for research–such animals have a clearly defined health, pedigree and vaccination status; commercially available breeds are Beagles, large hounds, and mixed breed dogs. The cost of purpose-bred dogs may be higher because of the expense of raising healthy dogs to adulthood. Their health status is generally better than that of unconditioned random source dogs.

• Random source dogs, which are obtained either from another class of USDA-licensed dealers or from animal pounds and shelters. These animals usually have no vaccination history and have poor health. Prior to being used in an experimental protocol, they should be physiologically stabilized during an acclimation period. This involves treating diseases and parasites, immunizing the dogs, and improving their plane of nutrition. In many areas, local ordinances limit the use of pound and shelter dogs for research.

Many research facilities have a policy to use only purpose bred animals in order to provide a high quality of animals for research and to avoid the health and ownership issues associated with random source animals.

MORE . . .

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