New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society executive director Tara Jackson said society members protested yesterday morning on the university’s Dunedin campus against the building of a new laboratory testing on animals.
They left a large Valentine’s Day card and several gifts outside the office of University of Otago deputy vice-chancellor of research and enterprise Richard Blaikie.
"What better day to ask them to have a heart than on Valentine’s Day," Ms Jackson said.
The 11 presents delivered were gift-wrapped with paper-bearing images of the animals used by the university for research, testing and teaching, she said.
"We wanted to send a message on behalf of all of the animals who were used by the university last year, and who will be used in the future if the new $50million animal lab is built."
If the university wanted to continue being a "forward-thinking, influential academic institution", it should promote the development of new research methods and technologies and not reiterate the same conclusions of past vivisectors, she said.
The society would continue to campaign against the project until the facility changed its focus to non-animal based research methods, she said.
Prof Blaikie said the university’s new "research support facility" would provide "state-of-the-art facilities" to help both humans and animals live longer and healthier lives.
"Research using similar methods has played a vital part in many medical breakthroughs over the past few decades and has helped save hundreds of millions of lives worldwide.
"It has helped develop painkillers, anaesthetics, asthma inhalers and insulin, and is responsible for rising numbers of people surviving cancer. It also helped perfect heart transplants, kidney transplants, hip replacement surgery, and blood transfusions."
The facility replaces existing ageing facilities and would help the university maintain the highest standards of care for animals used in research, Prof Blaikie said.
Otago’s animal-based research was subject to strict ethical oversight from animal ethics committees, which included members of external organisations concerned with animal welfare.
The university was also committed to reducing the use of animals and finding alternatives wherever possible, Prof Blaikie said.
