World Day for Animals in Laboratories: How Animal Photojournalism Portrays These Individuals

Not Just Numbers: A Photo Essay Dedicated to the Animal Individuals in Laboratories

As animal photojournalists, we know that within laboratories across the world, there are stories that deserve to be told, the stories of the hundreds of millions of individuals who are born, live and die within the walls of research facilities.

We Animals Media (WAM) brings visibility to hidden animals through compelling photojournalism. It is our mission to document the stories of animals in the human environment — those used for food, fashion, entertainment, and experimentation. As a result, our photographers are some of the few who have been inside animal testing facilities and animal research laboratories to document the plight of these animals hidden from public view.

On World Day for Animals in Laboratories, we hope our passion for telling stories and bringing visibility to hidden animals contributes to what animals need most: a radical and collective empathy.

Each year more than 115 million laboratory animals are used in research, according to the?Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. These captive animals are unique and sentient individuals with the capacity to feel, think and suffer, both physically and emotionally.

Who are these individuals?

Ron, a chimpanzee rescued from medical research by Save the Chimps in 2002. He’s on the cover of our book?We Animals, and our founder, Jo-Anne, dedicates the book to him. For decades, Ron lived in a 5x5x7 footage cage suspended above the ground. He endured many invasive surgeries and was anaesthetized at least 105 times. When Ron was 26, he was rescued by Save the Chimps, where this photo was taken.?

Photo credit: Ron, a chimpanzee rescued from invasive research, in his nest of blankets at Save the Chimps. USA, 2011. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

The pigs?used in many different types of research and kept in sterile conditions indoors. This pig will never have the opportunity to explore, root or wallow - qualities innate to her being.

Photo credit: ?Unlucky 7. An immobilized pig awaits the administration of an infusion in a jugular catheter. Spain, 2019. Carlota Saorsa / HIDDEN / We Animals Media

This lone sheep, waiting for a surgical procedure from which she will not awake. The procedure tests a medical device. She is a gregarious, social animal, but she has lived a life of solitude.?

Photo credit: USA, 2022. Roger Kingbird / We Animals Media

The black-furred mice, the most common mice used in medical research, known as C57BL/6 in the laboratory. They are the workhorses of medical research. Most labs will have hundreds of thousands of mice at any given time. When they are no longer needed, they are killed, often in large numbers, and then incinerated.?

Photo credit: USA, 2022. Roger Kingbird / We Animals Media

Photo credit: Photographs of animal use manuals from the Coulston Foundation, a former animal research laboratory. USA, 2008. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

The beagles,?the most commonly used dog breed in research.

Photo credit: A purpose-bred beagle at a veterinary school. Spain 2010. Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality / We Animals Media

Photo credit: Abbey, a beagle formerly used for research, is forever marked by her ear tattoo. Canada, 2012. Jo-Anne McArthur / The Ghosts In Our Machine / We Animals Media

Lastly, these individuals are the hundreds of thousands of zebrafish. They are the rats, the rabbits, cats, cows and other species of non-human primates.

Photo credit: Photographs of animal use manuals from the Coulston Foundation, a former animal research laboratory. USA, 2008. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

Photo credit: Animal restraints at the Coulston Foundation, a former animal research laboratory. USA, 2008. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

Photo credit: A used animal restraint vest and restraint collar. New Mexico, USA, 2008. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

Photo credit: A rabbit immobilized in a restraint before having her ears bled.?Spain, 2019. Carlota Saorsa / HIDDEN / We Animals Media

On World Day for Animals in Labs, we ask you all simply to look and not turn away from the fates that animals endure at our hands.

Explore and use our Top 25 Animals and Research visual gallery to advocate for the animals confined and killed in the name of testing and resear