When I was working near a college, I learned of an anthropology professor who was studying the life of cavemen. On his off time, he hunted Bigfoot in the forests of Washington State. Students claimed that part of his research was to spear live goats and cut them up with stone knives. Somehow, be believed that he was furthering the plight of civilized mankind. I am convinced that any animal research committee today would deny his research
In my senior year in college, I attended a class that introduced the students to real life experiences in our field of wildlife resources. I gave a talk on how wildlife managers should deal with animal rights activists; the talk would have earned me points with the activists. On one occasion, a researcher came in to talk to us about his research on Whitetail Deer populations. He was darting the animals from a helicopter. Since I had learned the use of chemical immobilization from the head of anesthesiology, I asked him what drug he was using. He said he was using succinylcholine chloride. Hearing that, I became very upset; this drug is not a tranquilizer but a paralyzing drug. It administers the worst kind of death when an animal is overdosed. I asked him what is death rate was and he claimed that half of the animals die from his research. I told them that if he was killing half of his test subjects he was engaged in bastard research. The rest of the class agreed with me.
The anthropologist and the wildlife researcher were so focused on the outcome of their research, that they overlooked the pain and suffering they caused in the performance of their research. This is why colleges should engage in constant monitoring to see that no animal is needless harmed in their care. The world is changing. In the old days, third and forth year veterinary students would perform three surgeries on an animal and following the third surgery the animal would be euthanized. Now, instead of euthanizing the animal, veterinary students are talking the animals home as pets.
There continues to be a lot of useless research being conducted and it is up to us to force researchers into being humane.