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The Conversation

Animal ethics – Analysis and Comment

Healthy animals, perhaps, but is it ethical to confine large wild mammals to a tank for the purposes of profit and education? Greg Lilly

Not all fun and games: the missing ethics of animals in tourism

Jim Macbeth, Murdoch University

Animals are a mainstay of global tourism development. They’re consumed in fishing and hunting, and used as part of “experiences” - horses in trail rides, marine mammals in theme parks, whale sharks for…
That’s me: Scientists agree animals are conscious, but public attitudes still lag behind. flickmor/Flickr

About time: science and a declaration of animal consciousness

Neil Levy, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health

Are animals conscious? Notoriously, the famous 17th century philosopher René Descartes thought they were not. He believed that possession of a soul was necessary for rational thought and for consciousness…
Animals are not just an incidental first choice of research method. usda/Wikimedia Commons

Animal-based research is still relevant and necessary

Swetha Srinivasa Murali, University of Sydney

Drug development is a slow process involving years, even decades, of research and animal models have always been integral to this work. But progress in translating animal work into human benefits has been…
Most drugs fail in clinical trials because of the reliance on animal testing to predict drug behaviour in people. Tatiana Bulyonkova

Animal research provides a flawed model, so why not stop?

Monika Merkes, La Trobe University

Much of the research involving the development of new drugs still uses animals. Apart from moral questions about inflicting pain and death on animals for the purpose of medical research, there are an increasing…