Researchers Force Animals to “Butt Breathe”
When Cruelty Becomes Comedy
Animal researchers have a disturbing habit of laughing at their own cruelty. They even give each other awards for it.
Improbable Research hands out its Ig Nobel Prizes for so-called achievements that “make people LAUGH….” Industry defenders like Understanding Animal Research insist these “laughable scientific discoveries can have deep impacts.”
But pause on that framing.
“Laughable” means “amusingly ridiculous”—something that provokes laughter or derision. And derision is exactly what at least one recently awarded, ridiculous experiment deserves.
Sanitized Language, Brutal Reality
Researchers won the prize for forcing animals to “breathe” through their butts.
Researchers cloak it in clinical language, of course: “enteral ventilation via anus (EVA)”, a system designed to push oxygen through the rectum instead of the lungs. Industry groups sanitize it further, claiming scientists merely “found that the animals can breathe through their anus in extreme situations.”
But that phrasing obscures what actually happened in these experiments—and what it took to produce that “finding.”
What the Experiments Actually Did
- Mice were placed in low-oxygen environments so severe that they began gasping, entered cardiac arrest, and, in some cases, died. Some had their tracheas cut open to allow for mechanical ventilation. Others had the linings of their intestines deliberately damaged—scraped with brushes—to increase oxygen absorption. Oxygen, as either gas or a liquid, was then forced into their rectums. Blood was drawn from major vessels and their hearts. Then they were killed.
- Pigs had their abdomens cut open so researchers could access and insert tubes into their colons. They were anesthetized, intubated, and manipulated into low-oxygen states. Oxygen-rich liquid was forced into their bodies through rectal infusion, drained, and readministered in cycles. Then they, too, were killed.
- Rats were subjected to repeated rectal dosing with oxygen-carrying liquids, had their blood sampled over and over, and were ultimately killed.
This is what—or, really, who—sits behind the joke. This is whose torment earned the applause.
All Harm, No Answers
And all for what? Even the researchers acknowledge they do not fully understand the biological mechanisms involved. Despite the invasive procedures, the tremendous suffering, and the lives taken, the fundamental question remains unsolved.
Yet, the experiments continue—including on humans. Clinical trials are testing what happens when oxygen is pumped into human bodies the same way. This should serve as a stark reminder of something the industry does not want you to consider:
Animal experimentation does not prevent human experimentation. It never has and it never will—because it can’t.
Humans are not interchangeable with other species. Our bodies, physiologies, metabolisms, and genetics are different. Our responses are different, unpredictable, and non-translatable.
Researchers merely test on animals first.
What This System Really Serves
So what, exactly, do these animal tests serve?
Not scientific necessity. Not human well-being.
Only an industry willing to manipulate animals’ bodies in ever more grotesque ways while calling it progress—and laughing along the way.
Redirecting the Conversation
The Ig Nobel Prize claims an intent to “spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.” Fine—let’s take them up on that.
But let’s direct our interest where it belongs: toward examining the scientific establishment that produced this experiment, rewarded it, and continues to defend the use of animals as stand-ins for humans.
Because there can be nothing respectable about asphyxiating an animal and forcing them to “butt breathe.”
There can be nothing “laughable” about tormenting sentient beings and ending their lives with impunity.
There can be nothing acceptable about a system that treats this violence as a punchline.
Demanding Change
We must demand an end to animal experimentation.
We must demand investment in non-animal, human-relevant research.
And we must refuse to let cruelty and suffering be dismissed as curiosity—or comedy.
Your Call to Action: Ask your Senators to support The FDA Modernization Act 3.0. This bill would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revise FDA regulations to remove the requirement for animal research.