Where are animals used for experimentation obtained?
Animals can be purchased from local pounds and commercial breeding facilities, or can be bred by the research facility. Class ‘A’ animals are those that are bred. Class ‘B’ dealers supply ‘random source’ animals whom can be purchased at auctions, ‘adopted’ from shelters, or stolen from homes. Some animals, such as non-human primates, must be obtained from the wild. In Ontario, the Animals for Research Act states that any impounded dog or cat must be surrendered by an animal shelter or pound if it is requisitioned by a research facility and the animal is not claimed during a seventy-two hour stray period. Where does the funding for animal experimentation come from? The public pays for animal research funding, either through taxes or by purchasing consumer products. The two major funding bodies in Canada are the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Even though you are paying for the research, you don’t have acce
