Do they breed and kill animals or orginisms for dissection?

Question

Is it moral to dissect? Is it true they use animals that died of natural causes for dissection?

Answer 1

Some of the staple lab animals are indeed bred for research purposes (all types of research both basic and applied, including drug tests, detection of toxic substances, etc), and of course education. This is the case of some small vertebrates, typically frogs and rats.
In other cases, the companies that supply these materials for educational purposes get them from animal shelters after they've been euthanized. Such is the case of cats, for instance (at least, my Carolina Supplies catalogue has such a disclaimer).

With respect to your other questions:
About the "moral" aspect, that really depends on personal beliefs and perspective. Using lab-bred animals is certainly better than collecting wild specimens, both in terms of ecological effects and because of the potential disease/parasite hazard of wild specimens.

About "natural causes": not really. For an animal, 'natural causes' usually means that they've died because of a disease (in which case, it would be dangerous to manipulate it without adequate equipment) or because a predator got them (in which case, they're not much use because they'd be half eaten).
Some dissection practices require animals that still have their systems working, but even if it's not the case, the specimen should be a healthy and freshly-dead animal.
While lab-raised animals are purposely killed, euthanized animals from shelters would be dead anyway, and are not killed _for_ dissections.

As a biology instructor, I disagree with wasting animal lives without any purpose, but I know that the actual experience of the dissection cannot be replaced. Therefore, I think it's my duty as a teacher, and also the duty of my pupils, to make sure that each dissection fulfills an educational purpose; in other words, that I teach, and they learn, all we can from the experience.

Answer 2

Three other people on this have given perfect answers, that are really long and well thought out, so I wont go into loads of detail. Ignore what LeeCee says (sorry LeeCee, I am sure your a nice person, you just have the wrong view!).

Yes, they do breed animals for dissection and research. But also, some other animals are used.I am vet student (in England, if it makes any difference). We do a lot of dissection, and I completely agree it is the ONLY way to learn anatomy. I have tried using books and things, we do that before and after dissection. Before dissection, the books are pretty much no use, which is fustrating. After (and during) dissection, however, your 3D image of the animal (or part of one) in your head is SO much better. Using books now can help, but only because of the mental image you have in your head.

I am only a first year, just started our last term (3/3). During term one, we did no dissection. In term 2 we did dissection of the horse and dog fore- and hind-limb. For that we used lots of animals (one dog and half a horse between 4 people, in a group of 220). The dogs we used were greyhounds and beagles, and the horses were shetland ponies. The greyhounds are ex-racers that are not rehomed. They are usually about 2 years old or so (at the end of their peak in performance). The beagles come from America, were, apparantly, they have an excess from the animal testing industry, and also the (pet) food testing industry (I think). The ponies are from the highlands in scotland or wales. They live loose there, and breed prolifically, and once or twice a year they are rounded up, and the excess culled. We use these.

In this term we have done one dissection so far (today), and it was of pig and lamb foetus's. I am not sure where these come from (well, America, apparantly, but I dont know why they have lots of pig's and lambs foetus's?), but I am going to find out, out of interest. We used 2 pigs OR 2 lambs per 4 people in a group of 220 ish.

We definitely need these animals to become familiar with the real thing. We respect them, and ge the VERY most out of each dissection that we can. By the end of dissection, the leg or foetus is literally in lots tiny bits, as we have explored every little bit of it.

Hope this helps,

Ashley

Answer 3

Yes they breed animals for dissection. Usually, they are killed using CO2 gas (which is pretty much as humane as you can get while still preserving the body).

It is moral to dissect for a purpose- otherwise, how would vets and physicians know what the inside of an animal look like? I sure wouldn't want to be the first person a doctor cut open if dissections were illegal.

Most have an educational purpose- the schools are usually required to offer and online dissection tool if you think it is wrong, but you learn a lot from being able to cut open and dissect an animal.

some do die of natural causes, yes, but most are not. In one of my classes, we preformed a necropsy on a few dead pets donated by their owners- they wanted to know how they died and we could help them (without spending the hundreds of bucks on a complete diagnosis by a vet)

Answer 4

We have been teaching and learning using dissection for centuries. There really is no substitute. Would you want a new surgeon operating on you if he's never been in the insides of a real person? No. There is NO moral question. Don't be fooled by the animal rights idiots.

Yes. Animals are cultured for teaching as well as research. The standard frog used in so many science labs is grown just for that reason. You could NEVER get the millions of frogs needed from the wild. Most animals used in teaching and research are indeed grown for that reason.

Veterinary schools purchase live, often sick or diseased animals for dissection. Then embalm it. You simply cant teach someone to properly use a scalpel on a model. A model pony can not be made to look anything like the real thing. I would never hire a vet that had not operated on the real thing.

Yes, animal dissection for teaching and learning is a necessity. Just like teaching evolution.

Answer 5

You bet they breed animals for all kinds of lab experiments, and yes, animals are tortured and die in the name of "research" and it is inhumane. Read "Animal Liberation" or "Monkey Wars" to learn more about this animal cruelty.