Some of the most graphic instances of cruelty include scissors being used to decapitate young rodents and fully conscious rats having blood drawn out of their eyes.
NATALIE GROVER: Undercover footage of “gratuitous cruelty and abuse” allegedly taken in an animal testing facility in Spain – which has previously secured funding from the EU and Spanish authorities for projects – has been published, provoking calls for the centre’s closure.
Madrid-based contract research organisation Vivotecnia conducts experiments on a range of animals including monkeys, dogs, mini pigs, rats, mice and rabbits for the biopharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetic, tobacco and food industries. An animal rights organisation said the footage was taken by a whistleblower who worked at the facility between 2018 and 2020. It appears to show animals housed in barren conditions, being taunted, smacked and shaken, and cut into with no or inadequate anaesthesia.
The footage, published by Cruelty Free International (CFI), appears to show technicians shaking and swinging rats vigorously to stun them into submission prior to dosing. Scissors were shown being used to decapitate young rodents. Rabbits were seen struggling in their restraint devices, falling and suffering injuries. Dogs are shown being picked up by the scruff of the neck and thrown into boxes or cages…
Some of the most graphic instances of cruelty include fully conscious rats having blood drawn out of their eyes – which CFI described as a usually “terminal” procedure meant to be conducted under anaesthesia. In another incident, a senior member of staff is seen drawing a “face” on the genitals of a male monkey who was pinned to the table while another staff member practised collecting blood from the animal’s leg…
In a statement, CFI’s director of science and regulatory affairs, Dr Katy Taylor, said: “This footage shows yet again the dark side of regulatory toxicity testing on animals. The European commission tells us that directive 2010/63 not only protects animals used in science but that it also provides a strategy to replace animal testing. It does neither. “There are various examples of where the procedures were done so badly or the handling was so bad that they’ve breached directives, but … also we do have instances of gratuitous cruelty and abuse”…
The footage appears to show practices in contravention of Spanish and EU law – directive 2010/63 – that, among other things, mandates suffering in animals used in experiments be kept to a minimum, added CFI, which is campaigning for the closure of the facility and an overhaul of animal experimentation laws… CFI has uncovered similar breaches of laws elsewhere in Europe, most recently at a facility in Germany. SOURCE…
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