In 1963, when researchers sawed open the heads of chimpanzees and attached transmitters to their brains to control their impulses, no-one batted an eye — because no-one knew. But 50 years and numerous exposés later, the world has reeled at revelations of the suffering of animals used as test subjects. Yet researchers are still using and killing primates — and they’re doing it right here, in our own backyard.
The sheer scale of animal experimentation in Australia would shock most people. Every year, some 6.5 million animals — hundreds of them non-human primates — are subjected to experiments in the name of science.