Animals rights activists in Australia, have slammed scientist for their cruel treatment of dogs during experiments.
Scientists of the Monash University in Victoria, along with doctors at the Alfred hospital’s department of cardiothoracic surgery, experimented on 12 dogs by removing their hearts for a period of time before implanting them.
Scientists from both departments revealed that they suffocated the 12 dogs until they stopped breathing to simulate death.
Their hearts were then removed and left to preserve for hours before being put back in them and revived. They were then monitored for a period of time before they finally were euthanized.
The scientist testified that at no time were the animals subjected to pain as they were under deep anesthesia and unconscious throughout the procedure.
The animals were never awake and the research has had an invaluable impact on heart transplant technology.
Animal rights activists have called the experiment shocking, and are wondering if scientists really learned anything from the experiment.
Helen Marston, who is the chief executive of Human Research Australia, said that the experiment was unnecessarily cruel to the dogs because they were essentially killed twice.