Wall of hearts protest over research centre
Activists have covered the wall of a new animal research lab at the University of Otago with more than 11,000 paper hearts.
Tara Jackson, of the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society, said the group stapled 11,358 hearts – one for every animal killed in testing at the Dunedin tertiary institution last year – from 4am on Thursday.
Those animals included cows, pigs, sheep, rats, mice, guinea pigs, possums, she said.
The group supported only nonanimal based research, and she questioned why the University of Otago was spending $50 million on the facility.
‘‘It seems like a really backwards plan,’’ she said.
Their protest would include a mass leaflet drop and a rally outside the current animal lab, the Hercus Building, on Saturday.
Hours after the hearts were stapled to the wall on Great King St, contractors began the painstaking work of removing each one.
A University of Otago spokesman said members of staff had met with the group.
‘‘The university welcomes ongoing public discussion about balancing the need to enable important medical and scientific advances with the ethical issues around research involving animals,’’ he said.
‘‘For its part, the university holds the view that animal-based research is a vital component in such advances.
‘‘All such research undertaken at Otago goes through a strict ethics approval process and is carried out as humanely as possible.’’
The university had always explicitly forbidden the testing of products on animals, and supported alternatives to animal-based research where it was feasible, he said.
At the time the new facility was announced in May, the university deputy vice-chancellor of research and enterprise, Professor Richard Blaikie, said the existing animal research facilities were almost 50 years old and nearly at the end of their lifespan.