cronxeh said:
Well ok this is in the United States, and perhaps after PETA or whoever was lobbying Congress to make changes. But there are still countries that don't have such laws. And if the pictures were meant to be emotional so what then - this is life and its being tortured. I'm not the biggest hippy perhaps but I know what's bad when I see it
Scientists uphold very strong ethical standards when it comes to animal research. Regulations in many other countries are even stricter than in the U.S., to the point of becoming burdensome to research. They are getting that way here too. The changes still ongoing are not doing anything real in terms of improving care for animals, we already have high standards, they are just adding administrative layers and mounds more paperwork. The standards of care are also maintained by scientific journals. If you do not meet those standards of care, you will not be able to publish any of your work.
In regard to your second point, that you know what's bad when you see it...do you really? Many of the captions on that site do not fit with what is actually going on. To an untrained eye, it may sound bad, but when you really look at what's going on with a trained eye, there is no cruelty going on.
I can't comment on the farming pictures; there's no way to know if those were really the cages the rabbits were housed in, which would be considered overcrowding, or if they were placed in those smaller cages for shipping (less space during transportation means less room to slide around and get injured, just like you would put the family dog into a shipping crate to take to the vet). There's also no way to verify the claim of how that rabbit was killed, whether it really was via a blow to the head with a pipe or some other means not photographed. Once the rabbit was dead, the rest of those photos are nothing odd; when any animal is slaughtered, you cut the jugulars and hang them to drain the blood. And the method of skinning the rabbit is the way you would skin any animal. If the meat is to be used, you need to remove the intestines so the meat isn't contaminated with bacteria. Again, all done after the animal is dead, so no cruelty there.
For the photos of medical research, let's work our way through them one by one. I'll admit, I'm uncertain what the first one is intended to be. The photo is also undated, so no idea when that was done either.
In photo 2, this is a pretty proper surgical set-up. All of the brown "stuff" on the belly of the animal is the betadine surgical scrub to keep the area sterile. If you went in for surgery, they'd prep you the same way. The surgeon in the photo is properly gowned and gloved, indicating this is being done as a sterile procedure. The metal surgical table is proper as well, as that allows for easy cleanup and sanitization of the work area, so everything is on the up-and-up. That the caption says this has been witnessed being done without anesthesia is pretty unbelievable. First, that cannot be in any way verified, and second, rabbits don't just lie still if they are unanesthetized. It would be more trouble than it's worth even if someone were nuts enough to try it. Therefore, that claim lacks any credibility.
Photo 3, probably is what it says it is, a rabbit recovering from surgery. The large shaved patch of skin on its side is evidence of this. That's all that you're seeing there, pink skin where the fur was shaved to keep the surgical area clean. It's a proper surgical prep. However, again, the caption tacks on that the rabbit went on to be used for more experiments. What exactly that's supposed to mean is unclear. Perhaps the person taking photographs doesn't understand the experiment and that the surgery is part of an experiment not THE experiment. Note that any of the surgical procedures shown could be something as simple as spaying the rabbit.
Photo 4 claims to be a "teaching experiment" and argues that this is of little or no value to humans. However, they don't explain anything about what is being taught in this exercise. Are these surgeons learning to use a new piece of equipment before practicing with it on humans? Or veterinary students learning how to properly anesthetize a rabbit and treat it?
Photo 5, yes, there will be dead bodies disposed of once the animals are euthanized (you'll find the same in the freezer of any animal shelter or veterinary office). Don't you find it odd that these folks seem to have cameras with them at all times, yet never manage to get photos of their more outrageous claims, such as that live rabbits were bludgeoned with a pipe? Surely that would have been worthy of a photograph if they really saw that happening, because that would be cause for filing animal cruelty charges against whoever did that.
Photo 6 is using the ear vein to collect blood or provide an injection. This is NOT painful to the rabbit as the caption states. It's no different than taking blood from the vein in your arm, actually; the ear vein is so prominent and easily accessed that an injection or blood sampling can be done very quickly. Even if you took your pet rabbit to the vet and they needed to take a blood sample for a test or to give it a shot of medicine, or anesthetize it to spay it, the ear vein is the vein they'd use. On rabbits, it's the most easily accessible vein. The veins in the legs are deeper and would be more painful to access than the one in the ear, so unlike dogs or cats where the vet will use the leg to get a blood sample or to administer drugs, in a rabbit, the ear vein is used. Although, a few things in that photo suggest it has been staged. First, the angle of the syring/needle looks too shallow, and there's a hint in the photo past the person's thumb, that the needle has not been inserted but is lying on top of the ear. Second, the placement of the person's thumb on the ear is not in the right place (it would be in a good spot for them to stick themself with the needle though). Third, the way the syringe is being held is the way actors hold syringes in movies, but isn't the way most medical professionals and scientists would hold a syringe for giving an actual injection. Fourth, you would normally shave the ear in a small area where you will give the injection to keep it clean. And fifth, I have no idea what that restraint box thing is that's being used, but normal people giving a rabbit an injection will just hold it in their arms to do the procedure (you could be done with the injection and have the rabbit back in its cage in the time it would take you to get it into something like that). Someone giving a real injection would also be wearing gloves.
I'm probably running out of room here. I think you get the point. Oh, also take note that photo #13 is identical to photo #3, except they've fiddled with the color and contrast to make the healthy pink skin seen in #3 look harshly red in #13.
