Hollywood star Mark Rylance has added his voice to the calls for the University of Bristol to stop conducting forced swim test on rats. The Oscar-winning actor has penned an open letter to the university's vice chancellor, Hugh Brady, to ask him to reconsider the use of the 'cruel' experiments.
The tests see rats, which may or may not have been dosed with a substance, placed into inescapable beakers of water. They are then tested for the time it takes for them to stop swimming and start floating. The experiments are conducted to research depression and other mental health conditions in humans, and the university says it is "committed to a culture of care where animals are treated with compassion and respect."
But animal rights organisation PETA have been protesting against the university for more than a year, and Mark Rylance has now given them his support. In his letter, Rylance writes: "I recently performed in Bristol, and it’s come to my attention that a cruel, useless experiment called the forced swim test is being conducted at your university.
