An animal rights activist group held a protest outside the University of Manchester as 40 more animals each day were experimented on at the institution in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Data from the university shows that the number of animals the university experiment on increased from 95,004 in 2022, to 109,435 in 2023.
Vivisection Exposed stood in solidarity outside the Stopton building on the university’s open day, where students experiment on rats and mice which undergo surgical procedures and chemotherapy for research purposes.
Janette Alston, organiser of Manchester based protests for Vivisection Exposed, said: “Most people think animal experiments are a thing of the past. The people we speak to are unaware of the invasive and cruel experiments being carried out on vulnerable sentient animals.”
November will mark five years since the group was co-founded by Wendy Elizabeth after she was horrified when looking at animal testing procedures for her dog.
Wendy Elizabeth, co-founder of Vivisection Exposed, said: “Students will be told they’re saving the human race if they carry on experimenting, and this just isn’t the case.”
A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “Scientific research involving animals is a vital tool in improving our understanding of health and disease and is crucial for the development of new medicines and medical technologies.
“We have robust ethical review processes in place and are committed to the principles of the 3Rs – replacement, reduction, and refinement.”
Vivisection Exposed protest against several other institutions conducting animal research across the UK and have created a new campaign for next year called SAT 2025, which stands for stop animal testing.
Ms Elizabeth added: “They should just focus on replacing animals in research altogether rather than trying to refine the methods and reduce the number of animals used.”
The group have said they will publish university email addresses, phone numbers and addresses of universities that use animals, so people can contact them to ask why they use animals and have promised to publish all replies they receive.
The overarching aim of the campaign is to give universities an extra incentive to become the first to university to stop using animals in 2025, with a winner to be announced.
