WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat Katie Fisher, 14, of Tucson, takes part in a protest against animal testing. The prostesters claim animals are mistreated and suffer cruelties in experiments.

Slogans like "Animals feel fear and pain" and "The alternatives are more effective" confronted motorists on North Campbell Avenue in front of University Medical Center yesterday afternoon.

About 20 members of various local animal activist groups protested UMC's use of animals for medical research öö part of the "World Week for Animals in Laboratories."

"It's a time when animal rights groups nationwide bring into public focus the fact that animals are being abused through vivisection," said Gary Vella, Tucson chapter coordinator for the Animal Defense League of Arizona.

"We just don't have a right to their life, to imprison them, to do these bizarre Frankenstein procedures on them," he said. "We are frankly tired of our tax dollars paying for the perpetuation of animal suffering."

UMC currently has 15,000 research animals, 95 percent of which are mice, said Dr. Susan Sanders, UA director of animal care.

There are about 20 primates being researched.

Protesters argued that the treatment of animals in the research centers is cruel, using the story of a monkey named Pepe, who Vella said received a cranial implant while he was attached to a computer by wires, to illustrate their cause.

"Everybody has a right to their own opinion. However, as a veterinarian and a patient, I strongly believe in the use of animals in research. It's beneficial to both humans and animals," Sanders said.

Sanders said all of the research animals in university facilities are well cared for and treated humanely, but in animal testing, just as in human medical procedures, a certain amount of pain is involved.

"If we find that an animal is in pain or distress, then it is our job to work with the researcher to treat or eliminate it and to euthanize the animal if necessary," she said.

Protesters want to see more methods including: clinical studies, autopsies and preventative measures employed by researchers as alternatives to animal testing. Vella also said that physiological differences between humans and animals are a barrier for animal testing.

Sanders said the university utilizes alternative models like tissue cultures and computer analysis in about 50 percent of its research.

Sanders also said that research animals are almost identical to humans, physiologically, and their cells are far more effective in research than human cells. Human cells deteriorate into their simplest forms when isolated, but animal cells stay in the same state and can be observed for longer periods of time, she said.

Sanders also said that the university is required by the Nuremberg Code and the Helsinki Accord to test any new drug on animals before it can be tested on humans.

"Before we test on humans, we are required by law to test on animals."

But protesters said they want to see animal cruelty end.

"I know from so much that I have read and talked to intelligent people that I trust, that there is a lot of unnecessary harm being done to animals," said Bronwin Rhodes, a studio art sophomore. "People getting informed is really important."