The Use of Rabbits in Scientific Research

Rabbits

1930

Since the 1930’s, rabbits are widely used for experimentation and testing mainly due to practical, rather than scientific, considerations. They are small and usually docile, easily restrained, cheap to maintain, and breed prodigiously.

Rabbits

1933

In 1933, Richard Shope discovers a papillomavirus in the horns of cottontail Rabbits.

Rabbits

1937

In 1937, Dr. Shope observes that Rabbits overcome CRPV are immune to re-infection.

Rabbits

1944

In 1944, the Draize test was invented as a way to test skin and eye irritancy of chemicals. In these tests, rabbits are often locked into full-body restraints to prevent them from touching eye or skin sores.

Rabbits

1970

This controversial use of rabbits resulted in some of the first large-scale protests against animal experimentation in the 1970s and 1980s and pushed the scientific community to search for in vitro alternatives.

Rabbits

2012

Although their numbers have declined over the past two decades, 205,482 rabbits were held in laboratories in 2012.

Rabbits

2012

They are also frequently used in experiments that cause pain and suffering. In 2012, over 35%, or 77,206 individual rabbits were subjected to these types of tests.