Petition 2014/121 of Tara Jackson on behalf of the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society and Helping You Help Animals

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1 Petition 2014/121 of Tara Jackson on behalf of the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society and Helping You Help Animals Report of the Primary Production Committee May 2018 Contents Recommendation... 2 Request for a mandatory animal retirement policy for animals used in education, research, and testing... 2 About research, testing, and teaching using live animals... 2 Comments from the petitioner... 3 Comments from the Ministry for Primary Industries... 4 Our response to the petition... 5 Appendix... 6

2 Petition 2014/121 of Tara Jackson on behalf of the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society and Helping You Help Animals Recommendation The Primary Production Committee has considered Petition 2014/121 of Tara Jackson on behalf of the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society and Helping You Help Animals, and recommends that the House take note of its report. Request for a mandatory animal retirement policy for animals used in education, research, and testing The petition was presented to the House on 3 May It requests: That the House of Representatives note that 16,845 people have signed petitions calling on the House of Representatives to pass legislation to introduce a mandatory animal retirement policy for animals used in research, education and teaching. About research, testing, and teaching using live animals Part 6 of the Animal Welfare Act 1999 regulates the use of animals in research, testing, and teaching (RTT). All RTT that uses live animals must be carried out in accordance with a code of ethical conduct. The code must be approved by the Director-General of the Ministry for Primary Industries, with advice from the National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee (a statutory committee that advises the Minister for Primary Industries about ethical issues resulting from the use of live animals in RTT). Organisations or individuals with an approved code of ethical conduct must establish and maintain an animal ethics committee. The committees decide whether or not to approve individual projects based on criteria listed in section 100 of the Act. They must be satisfied that the likely benefits of the project outweigh any likely harm to animals. Committees must also consider whether there is a suitable alternative to animal testing, as part of their role to promote the Three Rs framework for animal research. They are: replacement of animals in RTT reduction of the number of animals used refinement of procedures to minimise animal pain and suffering. The Animal Welfare (Records and Statistics) Regulations 1999 require code holders to record information and submit annual statistics to the ministry about animals used in RTT. The statistics must include information about the effect of the research on the animals and the fate of the animals at the end of RTT. 2

3 Comments from the petitioner The petition was submitted on behalf of Helping You Help Animals (HUHA) and the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society (NZAVS). HUHA is a Wellington-based animal rescue and NZAVS is a non-profit organisation committed to ending animal testing. NZAVS maintains that animal-based research has limitations and that human-based research models should be used. The petition was partly inspired by HUHA rescuing beagles from the Valley Animal Research Centre in We heard that the beagles have been rehabilitated and rehomed and have become loved and loving companion animals. The petitioner s concerns about animals used in RTT In New Zealand, the number of animals euthanised after being used for RTT varies each year. In 2015, 88,200 animals (from a total of 225,310) were immediately euthanised after the completion of research. The petitioner told the committee that in recent years between 80,000 and 110,000 animals have been euthanised annually. She asserts that animals are usually euthanised without any attempt by researchers to rehabilitate or rehome them. Section 80 specifies the purposes of Part 6 of the Act (Use of animals in research, testing, and teaching). The petitioner notes that two aims are to guarantee that: the benefits from using animals in research, testing, and teaching are not outweighed by the likely harm to animals reasonable steps are taken to ensure the physical, health, and behavioural needs of those animals are met based on good practice and scientific knowledge. The petitioner does not consider that life in a research laboratory and subsequent euthanasia meet the requirements of complex animal species. She believes that the two aims of the Act should be enough to encourage researchers to rehome animals. Proposal to introduce a mandatory retirement policy The petitioner proposes amending Part 6 of the Animal Welfare Act to include a mandatory retirement policy for animals used in RTT. The retirement policy would ask research facilities to make a reasonable effort to offer animals to rescue centres once the research is completed. Animals used for breeding purposes are not included in the statistics provided by the ministry. Therefore, the petitioner told us, an unknown number of animals used only for breeding are euthanised each year. The petitioner requests that animals used for breeding purposes are also included in the mandatory retirement policy. About animal rescue facilities There are almost 100 registered animal rescue groups in New Zealand. We heard that they have the resources to take in animals, and the knowledge about how to care for them and the best methods for rehabilitation and rehoming. 3

4 HUHA is one of the largest animal shelters in New Zealand, with three shelters and a vet clinic. Although HUHA s shelters are in the North Island, it can take animals from all over New Zealand. HUHA can rehabilitate ex-lab animals and ensure they are vaccinated, de-sexed, and microchipped before rehoming. It is willing to act as the first point of contact for facilities in New Zealand that have ex-lab animals needing to be rehabilitated and rehomed. NZAVS is compiling a database of animal rescue centres that are willing to take, rehabilitate, and rehome ex-lab animals. As at March 2018, 33 animal rescue facilities had indicated that they could take on ex-lab animals. The petitioner told us that NZAVS has a waitlist of people wanting to adopt ex-lab animals. This includes rats and mice because they are easy animals to keep as pets. She said that these people could be contacted to find homes for animals when HUHA and other shelters cannot find suitable homes. Legislation in other jurisdictions The petitioner told us that the Beagle Bill has passed in six states in the United States. It asks that laboratories make a good-faith effort to contact animal rescue organisations to facilitate the adoption of animals. The animals can be euthanised if the rescue organisations cannot place them. Since 2013, the Australian Code for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes has included a provision for researchers to consider rehoming animals where possible. Comments from the Ministry for Primary Industries About animals used in research In 2015, the most commonly reported species of animals used for research were cattle, followed by mice, fish, and sheep. The main reasons for using animals for research were veterinary research, animal husbandry (the science of breeding and caring for farm animals), teaching, and basic biological research. Rodents were mainly used for medical research, testing animal health products, and basic biological research. The ministry told us that most research in New Zealand does not result in the death or euthanasia of the animals used. In 2015, 60.9 percent of the animals were not euthanised. Of those: 53.8 percent were returned to the owners 25.7 percent were released to the wild 10.7 percent were given to others (including rehoming) 9.9 percent were retained by the institution. The ministry noted that in 2015 cats and dogs comprised 0.6 percent of the animals used in RTT. It said that animal rescue centres may be able to rehome cats and dogs used in research, but questioned whether they would have the expertise to rehome other species, such as livestock, reptiles, rats, mice, and fish. 4

5 Animals used for breeding purposes The petitioner is concerned that animals used for breeding purposes are not included in the statistics provided by the ministry. An amendment to the Animal Welfare (Records and Statistics) Regulations, which came into effect on 1 January 2018, requires code holders to record the number of animals bred but not used for the purposes of RTT. The ministry considers that this amendment will increase the transparency of the number of animals killed for the purposes of RTT. The ministry s view The ministry told us that it acknowledges the intent of the petition but does not support introducing a mandatory retirement policy for animals used in RTT. The ministry is unclear whether the petition focuses on rehoming all animals or only companion animals, such as cats and dogs. It is also concerned that the petitioner s submission does not address whether animal rescue centres, which often rely on volunteers and public donations, would be sufficiently resourced to house and care for the thousands of research animals. The ministry considers that the regulatory system provides sufficient oversight and protection for animals used in RTT. It believes that improving the welfare of animals used in RTT can be addressed in other, non-regulatory ways. The ministry said that it would be willing to advise holders of codes of ethical conducts and animal ethics committees about the database being compiled by NZAVS. It is also willing to help share information between the various parties. Our response to the petition We thank the petitioner for bringing this petition to us on behalf of NZAVS and HUHA. We commend HUHA for offering to act as a contact for facilities with ex-lab animals and NZAVS for its work on a database of animal rescue centres willing to take ex-lab animals. We do not consider that a mandatory retirement policy is necessary for animals used in RTT. At present, there is nothing in the Animal Welfare Act to preclude a research facility from offering animals to rescue centres once the research is complete. We encourage NZAVS and HUHA to work with the ministry to help communicate to research facilities about animal rescue centres and members of the public who are willing to take exlab animals. 5

6 Appendix Committee procedure The petition was referred to the Primary Production Committee of the 51st Parliament on 3 May The petitioner and the Ministry for Primary Industries provided written submissions and oral evidence. On 8 November 2017, the petition was reinstated with the Primary Production Committee of the 52nd Parliament. We considered the petition between 30 November 2017 and 10 May Committee members Hon David Bennett (Chairperson) Hon Nathan Guy Jo Luxton Kieran McAnulty Mark Patterson Stuart Smith Rino Tirikatene Hamish Walker 6