Animals are used for teaching purposes in many different ways in NZ, including:

• Dissection: Animals are dissected in classrooms as a way of teaching students about the anatomy and physiology of various animals. 
• Observation: Students observe animals in their natural habitats or in controlled environments to learn about their behaviour and ecological interactions.
• Research: Animals are used in research projects conducted by students and scientists to gain insights into specific biological phenomena.
• Animal-assisted therapy: Animals, such as therapy dogs, are utilized to support emotional well-being and aid in therapeutic interventions for individuals with various needs.
• Agricultural education: Animals used in animal agriculture are used to educate students about agricultural practices and animal husbandry (i.e., milking, impregnation of sows or dairy cows, calving assistance, hoof trimming, sheep shearing, tail and tooth clipping of piglets etc.).
• Wildlife conservation: Animals are studied to understand conservation challenges and devise strategies to protect endangered species.
• Animal behaviour studies: Students analyze and interpret animal behaviour patterns to learn about animal psychology and social dynamics.
• Animal Care: Students use animals (often companion animals) to learn how to handle and care for animals correctly. Other students (i.e., vet students) use animals to practice surgery techniques, restrain animals, and take blood samples or other measurements. 

As you can tell from the above list, animals are used in both harmful and non-harmful teaching methods. Our goal at NZAVS is to end all teaching practices that are harmful to animals.

You can find more examples of how each animal species is used in science here.

Animals Killed for Teaching in NZ

The NZ Government only tracks how many animals were killed who were used exclusively for teaching. If animals are killed for research and teaching purposes, then they are not counted in the overall total number of animals killed for teaching purposes in NZ. In short, we do not know exactly how many animals are killed who are used for teaching. 

The best we can do (from the info available) is provide an overview of how many animals were killed who were used exclusively for teaching purposes via the table below. 

Learn More

• Return to the Kind Education homepage.
• Find out more about the benefits of Kind Education.
• Learn about Kind Education methods.