Sheep infected for display

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 3

Sheep infected for display

PA Hamilton Live sheep were successfully infected with sheep measles, slaughtered and forwarded to a national fieldays stand to be cut open to show the life cycle of the disease, the Waikato County Council was told.

A report received at Tuesday’s Waikato County Council meeting yesterday brought angry reaction from the Waikato branch of an animal rights group, Save Animals From Exploitation. The Waikato County Council’s senior hydatids and dog control officer, Mr Herb Edwards told the meeting that the field days stand had attracted a “terrific amount of interest and was well attended thus making the project very successful.” The stand was organised and run by the Institute of Hydatids control officers’ south Auckland branch, with Mr Edwards acting as convenor.

The hydatids display was built to resemble a killing chain at a freezing works.

An animal research centre successfully infected live sheep with the disease which were later slaughtered and the carcases forwarded to Mr Edwards for display purposes. Reacting to the report yesterday, the animal rights organisation, S.A.F.E., said it would be opposed to deliberately infecting animals in the name of education.