Posted on the 11th August 2010
An investigation by the Wales on Sunday newspaper has revealed that animal experiments at Cardiff University have risen by 13% since 2006. In the past four years, the University used more than 190,000 animals in research, including mice, fish, birds, guinea pigs, cats, rabbits and tree shrews from South-East Asia. It was responsible for 96% of all animal tests at Welsh universities.
In one shocking experiment, 19 kittens were subjected to invasive surgery in which their windpipes were sliced, catheters were inserted into their blood vessels, and electrodes implanted into their brains. In 2009, the University used 46 cats in research, more than a quarter of all the cats used in research facilities in the UK during that period.
Animal Aid exposed Cardiff University in its 2006 ‘Mad Science’ awards, for conducting particularly pointless and grotesque research on rats. In one experiment, rats were trained to press a lever to obtain a food reward, and to swim through a water maze to a hidden escape platform. Researchers then injected some of the rats with a toxic chemical to destroy different areas of the brain, and forced them to repeat the tests. They concluded that more animal experiments were needed to study brain damage.
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