Animal rights activists disrupt Bristol University Vice Chancellor’s meeting over forced swim tests

“Forcing small, terrified animals to swim out of fear of drowning is inhumane and unnecessary”

Animal rights activists disrupted a Bristol University meeting this week in protest against the institution’s use of rats and mice in forced swim tests. The action had been organised by by animal cruelty campaigners, PETA.

Campaigners disrupted the meeting on Wednesday (October 2) by approaching Vice Chancellor Evelyn Welch, who was hosting a Q&A session, and then holding up a banner that read “Bristol Uni: Drop the Forced Swim Test”. The protester was then escorted out of the meeting room.

Bristol University is one of the few remaining institutions still conducting the tests, which have met a long-running campaign of direct action and protest by animal rights activists, and been consistently defended by the university.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has organised rallies, publicity stunts, and direct action to disrupt university events in a long-running campaign. Earlier this year the group also offered a donation to the university’s research funds of £24,000 if it agreed to stop the tests, but this was turned down.

The tests are controversial - researchers place a mouse or a rat into a container of water that is too deep for them to touch the bottom but has too high sides for them to climb out. The animal has to tread water to survive. The tests are done to measure stress levels and researchers say they believe the tests can tell them something about mental health conditions and the effects of various treatments - something disputed by animal rights campaigners and some scientists.

“Forcing small, terrified animals to swim out of fear of drowning is inhumane and unnecessary – it offers no benefit to the advancement of mental health studies in humans,” said PETA Senior Science Policy Manager Dr Julia Baines. “PETA urges the University of Bristol to follow the lead of the majority of the UK’s top universities that have already shunned this cruel experiment.”

The Home Office recently announced its intention to eliminate the experiment in the UK – which would be the first time a specific test on rodents has been banned in the country.

Sign up to receive daily news updates and breaking news alerts straight to your inbox for free here.

In response to the criticism of the test, Bristol University stated on its website: “We recognise there are differing views about the use of animals in research, including some concerns around whether it is ethical. The forced swim test and forced swimming have been approved as valid models to study the neurobiological processes underpinning how the brain deals with and adapts to stressful challenges.

“Increasing our understanding of these processes is important because stress is known to contribute to the development of major depression and many other stress-related illnesses. A better understanding of how we respond and adapt to stressful events in our lives is crucial for the development of new treatments for stress-related disorders.”