Recently the first group of animals since our Out of the Labs campaign win, have been offered up for adoption! This is a huge victory for animals used for research, testing and teaching in NZ and we hope that this is just the first of many cases where animals will be adopted into forever homes instead of being euthanised.
Massey University contacted us when they heard the news about the Ministry for Primary Industries supporting the rehoming animals who have been bred or used for science in NZ.
They informed us that they had fifty mice whom they would like to rehome! They were being used for teaching purposes in an ecology paper and were being housed in groups of nine to ten mice.
The mice were all born in June and belong to two different strains, BalbC and Swiss. The BalbC strain mice are naturally quite timid whereas the Swiss mice had more time to be handled so they would be more relaxed around people. Either way, the mice would be receiving a lot of love and TLC at the HUHA sanctuary so animals being timid or frightened was never going to be an issue or deterrent for us.
Our Executive Director, Tara Jackson went and picked up the fifty mice from Massey University with HUHA's Director, Carolyn Press Mckenzie. After meeting the mice our ED said:
It was the most heartwarming moment to meet these mice and to know that all of our hard work and the efforts of our many supporters has resulted in such a positive outcome.
In the past, mice like these would have been euthanized and instead, they are now at HUHANZ. They have all had vet checks and have begun the rehabilitation process. Some mice have already gone to their forever homes which HUHA has made sure are suitable.
This is what collaboration, working together and never giving up looks like. NZAVS do the behind-the-scenes report writing, meeting with MPS, article writing, emailing key stakeholders etc and HUHA is the crew who comes in and rehabilitates the animals and makes sure that they get to loving homes. Combined we have thousands of dedicated supporters who can all feel responsible for these fifty lives being saved.
We will now make sure all other institutes in NZ using animals for science know about this amazing news so that they can be inspired to follow Massey's lead.
