Between curiosity about the subject and difficulty with emotions:

Ethics discussion in course on animal experiments

The Animal Protection Act requires everyone who will carry out or participate in animal experiments to first show proof of necessary knowledge and skills. The University Experimental Animal Facility (ZVH) offers a 40-hour course once every year in Hohenheim that is also open to external participants. After completing the course, last year the participants shared what they felt during the course and what they think in general about animal experiments and their work.

Background: Course for animal experiments

• Half of the course (20 hours) is theory. Speakers from various University of Hohenheim institutions and visiting lecturers discuss legal regulations on animal experiments, animal keeping, breeding experimental animals, anatomy, anesthesia, experiment planning, and animal ethics, among other topics. 
• In the other half of the course (also 20 hours), practical skills are obtained. With instruction, the participants practice handling rodents, carrying out various methods such as drawing blood, and learning anatomy.
• The course ends with a written exam.

The 18 participants in 2016 came from very different areas: For example there was a doctoral candidate at the University of Stuttgart who researches antibodies against tumors, a Hohenheim Master’s student who was carrying out a tick experiment with mice, a staff member from Meiereihof research station who works with fistulated cows, and an animal keeper from the Universität Vaihingen who supervises experimental animals and in the future will also be responsible for killing them, e.g. after an experiment to extract organs and tissue. 

Practical exercises give rise to various emotions

Following the course, the participants expressed their willingness to participate in a voluntary discussion in which they reported about their thoughts and feelings. Over a piece of pizza, the discussion quickly became animated and open.

The participants experienced very different emotions during the practical exercises in the course.

“For me it was very emotional,” reported one participant. “For me it was really stressful and I had to overcome my hesitations. But I know that cancer antibodies can’t be researched any other way. That’s why it’s so important to me to learn the right techniques, e.g. how to hold mice correctly so they are calm until the injection. As soon as the mouse was anesthesized I found the work a lot easier.”

For another participant, curiosity was at the forefront: “I carry out feed experiments with livestock animals, so I probably won’t be dissecting any more mice in my daily work. But it was still an interesting experience. For example, even when I was little I thought it was fascinating to cut apart check and see how the internal organs were connected.”

Interest in animals was the starting point for many participants

It quickly became clear: No one remained untouched from the ethical dilemma of animal experiments.

That was true in particular because many course participants started their studies or work because of their interest in animals. Most of them have pets.

“I became an animal keeper because I wanted to help animals,” reported one participant. “Today I’m responsible for experimental animals. My friends and family often have a lot to say about that. But for me I’ve found a clear position. When I was seriously ill myself, I was absolutely dependent on a medication that was researched in part with animal experiments. As an animal keeper, I contribute to making sure that the stress for the animals is as low as possible. I’m still active in animal welfare in my private life. However, today I understand animal welfare to be something different than I believed 10 years ago.”

Killing animals for basic research and education?

The fact that animals are killed to research medications is much easier for the animal keeper to accept than when this is done for basic research or teaching.

Another participant stated: “But we have to start somewhere. We can’t development medications that can to go the trial phase without understanding basic interactions.”

One lecturer reported that at the LMU Munich more videos have been used in recent years to prepare early career researchers for carrying out animal experiments. The number of mice killed was reduced in this way. However, it is still absolutely necessary for practical exercises to be carried out during the course of studies.

This seemed to be in line with most of the course participants, who also have access to a video databank in addition to the course in Hohenheim.

“In the course I was pretty nervous,” said one participant. “That is why it was really helpful for me to prepare myself with the videos at home and calmly go over what I had learned. But the videos definitely could not have completely replaced the experiment with the real mouse.”

Dissection course in Biology Bachelor’s program

Most participants therefore also found it appropriate for Biology students to have to take dissection courses during their Bachelor’s studies. Especially since the animals that are used are almost exclusively ones that will be killed anyway: For example roaches that are sold as animal feed, male chicks from the laying hen breeding farm, or lab mice that have to be euthanized after an experiment.

The students themselves are not all enthusiastic about the dissection courses.

“Some only recognize the value of the course in retrospect,” speculated one participant. “But I really think that no textbook or model can convey the same learning effect. It is definitely good if students are confronted with this experience at an early stage. In many areas of biological research, animal experiments play an important role. If you don’t realize until you get to your doctorate that you have a problem with that, then that’s a problem.”

Strong position of Animal Welfare Officer is important

The early career researchers view it as a problem if animal experiments become routine and the awareness that you are dealing with a living being is lost.

“We really need a system that provides enough time and money for carrying out the experiments,” emphasized one external course participant. “I have worked at various research institutions and have seen again and again that researchers are under a lot of time pressure. In extreme cases, that can have negative effects for the animals.”

That is why it is so important for the Animal Welfare Officer or ombudsperson to be able to act freely and independently and step in decisively in case of problems.

Most of the course participants are familiar with having to defend their work to their family and friends. The accusations are in part hurtful - and often they are based on unrealistic ideas of how the experiments are actually done. Still, the participants think it is good that society asks critical questions.

Text: Leonhardmair