We should be talking about the pigs that were shot in the head in the name of science, Dr Mike King says.
Dr King is an animal ethics researcher at the University of Otago. He believes it is good the university's planned $50 million animal research centre is generating public debate, because that is what is needed to get consensus on contentious issues such as animal research.
• Testing our ethics
• For the greater good
A former animal scientist who experimented on pigs during his PhD studies, Dr King's focus is now "Thinking about how animals ought to be treated, what a good life is for an animal, and what our obligations are to animals''.
In a world full of compromises, a greater level of openness about animal research is needed, he believes.
Animal research occurs because we, collectively, have agreed that it is permissible, Dr King says.
He agrees there is growing public concern about how animals are treated, but believes it is positive.
"People are taking seriously that animal welfare matters morally.''
At the same time, it is clear the goals being pursued through animal research have value, he argues.
"I think there are many people who die much too soon, and many people who live lives that are very difficult and involve a lot of suffering. And also animals whose lives involve suffering. And both of these important goals can be pursued through animal research.''
Dr King says his experience is that both those involved in animal research and those opposed to it are concerned about animal welfare. The disagreement is about how restricted the use of animals should be.
"It comes down to, at what point are the costs imposed on animals too great given the goals?''
Because the decision about what is acceptable is an informal yet society-wide pact, people need to have the facts, he says.
"The more open discussion there is about animal research, the better people will be able to make an informed decision.
"These are things a lot of people have no idea about. So, their only restriction is their imaginations and what they hear.''
It would be helpful, he says, for people to be familiar with the types of animals used, the conditions in which they are housed and what animal experiments look like.
Take, for example, the research that involved shooting live pigs in the head to measure back-spatter from gunshot wounds.
Last year, the university attracted international criticism from animal rights groups over the research.
There were facts about the research, of which the public may not have been aware. Such as, that the pigs were fully anaesthetised and that the experiments were in order to develop non-animal models that would reduce the number of animals needed for such research in the future.
"We live in a world where you get clashes between values. We can't escape having to make some compromises,'' Dr King says.
"The question is, which compromises? When is it a reasonable compromise? And that requires a lot of information.''
