A Uni Down Under, the University of South Australia, Comes out on Top for Mice
Good news for mice in Australia! The University of South Australia (UniSA) has confirmed on its website that it will no longer permit the use of the widely discredited and cruel forced swim test.
The decision comes after PETA Australia, Humane Research Australia, and thousands of supporters from both groups wrote to the institution after discovering its publications on the forced swim test. In a statement about the ban, the university said the forced swim test “will no longer be supported by UniSA”.
It’s Cruelty, Not Science
In the test, experimenters put mice or other small animals in inescapable beakers filled with water, in which they frantically swim in search of an escape.
Forcing animals to swim for their lives is cruel and tells us nothing about human mental health conditions. The test has been heavily criticised by experts who argue that floating is not a sign of despair, as some claim, but rather a positive indicator of learning, saving energy, and adapting to a new environment.
Degrees of Progress
The University of South Australia joins the University of Adelaide and Griffith University as well as institutes in the UK, such as King’s College London, and more than a dozen large pharmaceutical companies in ending this profoundly cruel test.
Now the pressure is on the University of Bristol. When will it drop the forced swim test and invest instead in modern, humane science?
The University of Bristol’s licence to conduct the forced swim test ends in August 2022. Now is the time for the institution to drop the cruel experiment.
Don’t wait – send the university a message now:
