Animals may be used in experiments to find new health treatments for humans or other animals, to understand wildlife behaviour such as migration routes, to test the safety of a new drug, or to facilitate learning outcomes for students. Under the Animal Welfare act, the use of animals in research, testing, and teaching in New Zealand must be approved by an Animal Ethics Committee.

SPCA is a founding signatory of the Australia New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals used in Research and Teaching (ANZCCART) Openness Agreement on Animal Research and Teaching in New Zealand. The Openness Agreement promotes greater transparency in animal-based research and teaching, encourages communication between the public and research and teaching institutions that use animals, and drives continuous improvements in animal care to ensure the highest welfare standards for animals used in research and teaching.

The ANZCCART Openness Agreement has five commitments for signatories to undertake:

• Commitment 1: We will be clear about why and how we use animals in research and teaching.
• Commitment 2: We will enhance our communications with the media and the public about our use of animals in research and teaching.
• Commitment 3: We will enhance our communications with tangata whenua about our use of animals in research and teaching.
• Commitment 4: We will be proactive in providing opportunities for the public to find out about research and teaching using animals.
• Commitment 5: We will report on progress annually and share our experiences.

As a signatory to the Openness Agreement, SPCA has increasingly shared more information related to the five commitments

SPCA has publicly available position statements on the use of animals in research, testing, and teaching.

SPCA permits the use of SPCA animals in research and teaching if the activity is part of routine animal care or procedure, or if the activity provides a net benefit to that animal and future SPCA animals.

SPCA has Animal Ethics Committee approval to use our animals for staff and volunteer training and animal care qualifications for SPCA staff and volunteers to gain and enhance skills in animal health and husbandry via formal NZQA qualifications and internal SPCA training.

Animal welfare shelters are an inherently stressful environment for any animal. To ensure we can reduce the negative welfare impacts of shelter confinement SPCA expects the staff and volunteers caring for these animals to have the skills, knowledge and experience to do so, consistently on a day-to-day basis and in alignment with SPCA Animal Welfare Policies and Procedures.

Key highlights of our training programme include:

• SPCA Animal Welfare Policies and Procedures that are grounded in scientifically validated approaches to shelter medicine and international best practice shelter medicine recommendations.
• SPCA works with Primary ITO* to deliver a range of level 3, unit standard qualifications - NZ Certificate in Animal Care Level 3 (Companion Animals) and Micro-credentials for Ethical Care of Cats and Dogs.
• The programme is based on the 5 Domains Model for animal welfare assessment which links nutrition, health, physical environment, and behavioural interactions to an animal’s mental state.
• Our programme incorporates tikanga Māori approaches, principles, and values into our use of animals for teaching that apply to all users across all training.
• The programme incorporates Fear Free™ strategies to reduce fear, anxiety, and stress in the shelter environment.

*Primary ITO is a business division of Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology

SPCA practices towel wrap handling techniques with a toy cat before using technique on a live cat.

Our Level 3 and internal training programmes involve health and husbandry activities for the main species seen at our Centres: cats, dogs, rabbits, rodents and caged birds.

Over the last three years (2021-2023), we have used the following number of animals:

• Total individual animals used = 1,602
• Total numbers used for the Level 3 Qualification = 1,512*
• Total numbers used for internal training = 93*

*Figures do not equal 1,602 because some animals were used in both the Level 3 Qualification and internal training.

Cats were used the most with 783 individual animals, followed by dogs at 435 and rabbits with 226. This aligned with the main species used as part of the L3 NZQA qualifications. The chart below is a breakdown of our use of animals by type.