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It is estimated that 50 to 100 million animals worldwide, from fruit flies and mice to primates are used for medical research. The research is carried out inside universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, farms, defense-research establishments, and commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to industry. Most laboratory animals are bred for research purposes, while a smaller number are caught in the wild or supplied by pounds.

Animals suffer a great amount of pain and death during these experiments. One such example I would like to share is that of a PETA investigation. PETA filmed staff inside a British laboratory owned by Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest animal-testing facility, hitting Beagle puppies (Beagles are the most widely used dogs, due to their friendly nature), shouting at them, and simulating sex acts while taking blood samples. They also have footage shot in the U.S. which appeared to show technicians dissecting a live monkey! In February 2005, the University of Cambridge's primate-testing labs showed that monkeys had the tops of their heads sawn off to induce a stroke, and were then left alone after the procedure for 15 hours overnight, with no veterinary care, because staff only worked from nine to five. The experiments involved the use of hundreds of macaque monkeys, who were deliberately brain damaged for the purpose of research into strokes and Parkinson's disease. The macaques were first trained to perform behavioral and cognitive tasks, then researchers caused brain damage either by removing parts of the macaque's brains or by injecting toxins. The monkeys were then re-tested to determine how the damage had affected their skills, being deprived of food and water to encourage them to perform the tasks, with water being withheld for 22 out of every 24 hours.

In another incident, an assistant professor of neurosurgery, E. Sander Connolly from Columbia University, was performing experiments on baboons by removing their left eyeballs and using the empty eye sockets to reach a critical blood vessel to their brains. A clamp was placed on this blood vessel until the stroke was induced, after which Connolly would attempt to treat the condition with an experimental drug. PETA described one such experiment: "On September 19, 2001, baboon B777's left eye was removed, and a stroke was induced. The next morning, it was noted that the animal could not sit up, that he was leaning over, and that he could not eat. That evening, the baboon was still slouched over and was offered food but couldn't chew. On September 21, 2001, the record shows that the baboon was 'awake, but no movement, can't eat (chew), vomited in the a.m.' 'At 1:30 p.m. the animal died in his cage.'"

Finally, in one of the most notorious acts of cruelty to an animal for the sake of research is that of Britches, a macaque monkey born in 1985 into a breeding colony at the University of California, Riverside. Britches was removed from his mother at birth, and left alone and tethered, with his eyelids sewn shut, as part of a sight-deprivation experiment. When rescued at five weeks, Britches was shaking and crying.

With todays advancements on technology there is no excuse to use animals for the sake of science and/or medicine. The technology field is vast and upscale, giving any who request such developments, the use of computerized anatomy's that are so mathematically accurate it would be close to perfect. Animals feel pain, they feel horror, they get scared, and they cry. They need us to stand up for their rights as living creatures, as they cannot speak for themselves.

Sources:
1. www.PETA.org
2. Wikipedia, article on animal testing

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