PETA supporters swarmed the University of Bristol's Senate House yesterday (October 31) dressed as 'brain-dead zombie scientists', wearing bloody lab coats, spooky contact lenses and face paint. The group staged a Halloween protest there to "urge University of Bristol experimenters to use their brains, ban the cruel and useless forced swim test and other near-drowning experiments on small animals, and embrace modern, non-animal research".
The animal rights group went on to say in a statement: "In the widely criticised tests, experimenters induce panic in vulnerable small animals such as rats, who may or may not be dosed with a test substance before being dropped into inescapable cylinders of water and made to swim, terrified they will drown. They attempt to climb the steep sides of the container and even dive underwater to look for an escape.
"The test is done under the erroneous assumption it can reveal something about mental health conditions in humans." They claim animals used in such experiments are often killed afterwards so their brains can then be studied.
Read more: Animal rights campaigners drop banner over M32 in Bristol Uni protest
PETA senior campaigns manager Kate Werner said: "PETA's 'zombies' want to put the final nail in the forced swim test's coffin. University of Bristol experimenters must drop these dead-end experiments and switch to superior, human-relevant methods before their brain-dead science comes back to bite them."
This is not the first time PETA have confronted the university over its use of the swim tests. Back in 2020, Maze Runner actor and former university student Will Poulter wrote to the University of Bristol to ask for the practice to be stopped, while in 2021 First Bus, Bristol's biggest bus operator, refused to allow the animal rights group to advertise on the city's buses as part of a campaign to call for the University of Bristol to cease such experiments.
A University of Bristol spokesperson said: "As a research university, we are committed to a culture of care where animals are treated with compassion and respect. We are in regular conversation with the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction and Animals in Research (NC3Rs) and the Home Office, as well scientific societies and academic colleagues, so we can keep up to date with the latest thinking on all aspects of research using animals.
“We have ethical review processes in place which look at each research project individually to provide constructive feedback and to ensure that the most refined and appropriate methods are being used. We acknowledge that some people have concerns about the use of animals in research, but we also recognise that research involving animals is vital for advances in medical, veterinary and scientific knowledge to improve our understanding of health and disease and the lives of both animals and humans.”
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