To celebrate World Day for Lab Animals 2017, we collaborated with multiple other charities to take a stand against the University of Otago's shocking plans to build a new $50 million animal lab.

We were joined by charities such as the Humane Society International, Choose Cruelty Free , Humane Research Australia, and Beagle Freedom Project. These renowned organisations are disappointed that the University of Otago would invest time and resources in a new animal lab. 

The Netherlands have recently announced that they will be phasing out animal testing for determining chemical toxicity by 2025. These are the types of commitments New Zealand universities should be making, not investing $50 million into an animal lab!

Celebrity animal rights activist James Aspey also attended our march against the new $50 million animal lab in Dunedin City today. James is most well-known for his incredible vow of silence for 356 days on behalf of animals. As animals cannot speak for themselves, James made a pledge to go without a voice for a whole year. Today NZAVS and James Aspey marched for the voiceless animals who suffer unnecessarily because of animal experimentation.

Together with James and hundreds of our fierce supporters, we marched from the site of the proposed animal lab site to the current lab at the Hercus Building to help showcase the growing opposition to this new animal lab.

It's time to #Stoptheotagoanimallab - the world is watching you Otago!

You can read more about this action here.