Which animal most commonly expereinces pain and/or distress in experiemnts?
Hamsters were the commonly used animal in experiments causing pain and/or distress in 2007. Purpose-bred mice, rats, and birds are not covered under the Animal Welfare Act and therefore are not reported. If they were, mice would likley be the most commonly used warm-blooded species in experiments that cause pain and/or distress. Q: Why is not much attention paid to distress not caused by pain? A: Unfortunately, the regulations of the Animal Welfare Act include a definition of “painful procedure” but not of “distress” or “distressful procedure.” In 2000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture called on the public and the research community to comment on possible adoption of a definition of distress and to change the current pain and distress categorization system used by researchers to report to the USDA. To date, the USDA has not followed through on this proposal. The HSUS believes that the lack of a regulatory definition of “distress” contributes to the lack of attention to this issue and
