SPCA Animals Used in Research 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 will not permit safety and efficacy testing of new drugs on animals in our care. All protocols that include SPCA animals used in research, testing, and teaching must be approved by the Chief Scientific Officer and approved by an animal ethics committee (AEC) before commencement.
Our organisation has approval from an AEC to use SPCA animals for staff training and animal care qualifications. SPCA’s training programmes incorporate Fear FreeTM strategies to reduce fear, anxiety, and stress in the shelter environment, which helps ensure our staff and animal interactions are consistent with the most up-to-date welfare-friendly methods.
As part of our commitment to the ANZCCART Openness Agreement, we now publicly share our use of animals in teaching on our website. Publicly sharing our use of animals in teaching helps us fulfil our organisation’s advocacy for more transparency on the use of animals in teaching, research, and testing.
