Guinea pig/animal general current issues?

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Deleted member 139433

So this time of year my animal science and equine science university students are usually planning an event for charities of their choice - but due to the current restrictions they can't go out doing this.

So instead, they are working to develop and present some educational seminars on topics that they feel very strongly about and what to raise awareness of (e.g. plastic pollution, the horse breeding crisis, animal testing, EU animal exportation welfare law, canine inbreeding and genetic consequences and industrial impacts on animal habitats etc).

They are looking for a lot more ideas and current issues and I wanted to ask on here if anyone had any ideas? Has anyone got any current guinea pig, animal or environmental issues that they feel strongly about? As we would love ideas for students to present and raise awareness!

Thank you :)
 
Mass breeding of small animals for pet shops.
How a lot of pet shop staff don't know about the pets they sell.
How people don't do their homework on pets they buy then dump them when they find out how much work they take.
 
Sezzy16 said:
Mass breeding of small animals for pet shops.
How a lot of pet shop staff don't know about the pets they sell.
How people don't do their homework on pets they buy then dump them when they find out how much work they take.
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Thank you :) Yes, I definitely want them to look at educating and raising awareness around these issues. It will be interesting to hear the ideas and solutions the students will want to try to come up with and hopefully they can take something forward
 
Update: a group of students have now agreed to do an educational seminar highlighting the issues with pet shop breeding and lack of information for potential owners ( mostly for rodents) 👍🏻
just need the others to decide on topics now 😊
 
If you're still taking topic suggestions, it really bothers me that there are currently no organisations actively assisting in the rehoming of laboratory animals once they've finished being used. There are plenty that dont need to be euthanised to assist in gathering information or results that could find a home, but are euthanised anyway.

It's a topic quite close to my heart as i've been attempting to get in contact with someone, somewhere, who would allow me to start taking small numbers of ex laboratory guinea pigs, either to keep for myself or to adopt out to good homes if I can ever bear to part with any!
 
Eriathwen said:
If you're still taking topic suggestions, it really bothers me that there are currently no organisations actively assisting in the rehoming of laboratory animals once they've finished being used. There are plenty that dont need to be euthanised to assist in gathering information or results that could find a home, but are euthanised anyway.

It's a topic quite close to my heart as i've been attempting to get in contact with someone, somewhere, who would allow me to start taking small numbers of ex laboratory guinea pigs, either to keep for myself or to adopt out to good homes if I can ever bear to part with any!
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That is such a brilliant idea. I will definitely put that forward. If the students don’t do a seminar on it, I definitely will!

what a wonderful thing you are wanting to do. If I can help in any way, please do let me know!
 
Bradshaw Piggies said:
That is such a brilliant idea. I will definitely put that forward. If the students don’t do a seminar on it, I definitely will!

what a wonderful thing you are wanting to do. If I can help in any way, please do let me know!
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Thankyou, thats kind of you! To be honest, ive been finding contact details for laboratories or universities that use guinea pigs rather thin on the ground, I don't suppose you know anywhere that may be a good place to contact? I tried talking to the RSPCA but other than confirming they nor anyone else is involved in that kind of thing and that i'd have to contact the establishments myself, I didnt really learn much about how to go about it.
 
Eriathwen said:
Thankyou, thats kind of you! To be honest, ive been finding contact details for laboratories or universities that use guinea pigs rather thin on the ground, I don't suppose you know anywhere that may be a good place to contact? I tried talking to the RSPCA but other than confirming they nor anyone else is involved in that kind of thing and that i'd have to contact the establishments myself, I didnt really learn much about how to go about it.
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I’m not too sure to be honest. It’s a tricky subject and I presume lots of places won’t want to either admit involvement. I don’t know of any universities that have animals for lab testing? We have animals to be able to deliver veterinary nursing and animal science courses, but nothing like testing.
with GDPR regulations, places like the RSPCA won’t give out details. I think a lot of products sold in this country are developed abroad (for example China, with their mandatory animal testing laws), I don’t hear if as many over here. Would an organisation like PETA not have info? Though I would be very careful with some of the stuff they publish.
 
Bradshaw Piggies said:
I’m not too sure to be honest. It’s a tricky subject and I presume lots of places won’t want to either admit involvement. I don’t know of any universities that have animals for lab testing? We have animals to be able to deliver veterinary nursing and animal science courses, but nothing like testing.
with GDPR regulations, places like the RSPCA won’t give out details. I think a lot of products sold in this country are developed abroad (for example China, with their mandatory animal testing laws), I don’t hear if as many over here. Would an organisation like PETA not have info? Though I would be very careful with some of the stuff they publish.
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Ah I see! Some of the things I had read suggested universities may also have some for research purposes, its definitely pretty tricky to find correct information and I can totally understand peoples reluctance to have much information out there. Animal rights organisations are something id like to avoid unless absolutely necessary, but I'd imagine PETA would likely have contact info somewhere. I wonder if DEFRA may be a safer place to approach to start with although I expect they may he restricted with what they can say like the rspca is.

Thankyou for the help, at least I can rule out contacting universities from now on:)
 
Eriathwen said:
Ah I see! Some of the things I had read suggested universities may also have some for research purposes, its definitely pretty tricky to find correct information and I can totally understand peoples reluctance to have much information out there. Animal rights organisations are something id like to avoid unless absolutely necessary, but I'd imagine PETA would likely have contact info somewhere. I wonder if DEFRA may be a safer place to approach to start with although I expect they may he restricted with what they can say like the rspca is.

Thankyou for the help, at least I can rule out contacting universities from now on:)
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Yes DEFRA would definitely need to confirm with GDPR rules.
It’s common in places like the US to have lab research animals in universities. But ethical standards over here tend to be better. No universities that I know of would grant ethical approval for that kind of research (especially if student research), which is why they tend to use products pre tested abroad I think?
For example, a lot of up to date research for equine comes from Kentucky Equinr Research (KER) as some of the research they have carried out (e.g. inducing lameness to research treatment methods) would never get ethical approval over here.
Hope that makes sense!
 
Swissgreys said:
Animal selfie tourism - a grim and often difficult to research topic, but one I feel is very important to raise awareness of.
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Yes. I totally agree. Not acceptable and it’s a shame so many people who pay for the pictures are not educated as to the suffering those animals endure.
Thank you for the idea!
 
Bradshaw Piggies said:
Yes DEFRA would definitely need to confirm with GDPR rules.
It’s common in places like the US to have lab research animals in universities. But ethical standards over here tend to be better. No universities that I know of would grant ethical approval for that kind of research (especially if student research), which is why they tend to use products pre tested abroad I think?
For example, a lot of up to date research for equine comes from Kentucky Equinr Research (KER) as some of the research they have carried out (e.g. inducing lameness to research treatment methods) would never get ethical approval over here.
Hope that makes sense!
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That totally makes sense, thankyou!
 
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