More than thirty years ago, the science of working with experimental animals was still at its dawn. With only workshops and no associations existing, it was not fully systematized as a science. Experimental animal services in universities were only breeding facilities called “animal houses” and there were few actual laboratories. Researchers and technicians had to work soiled with waste, in an environment without air-conditioning. As a rule, the animals used in experiments should be genetically and microbiologically controlled, but such animals were extremely expensive. With the low budgets at that time, we had to rely on mongrel animals. Rats and rabbits bred as a sideline by farmers, dogs and cats collected from municipal animal pounds were the kinds of animals used.
This was when Anne came to Japan. In Western countries, specially bred animals were already being used in experiments. She came from England, where legislative provisions for animal welfare had been made half a century ago, and the conditions she witnessed and experienced here surprised and agonized her. Still, through her work, she strived to highlight the importance and preciousness of animal life to all within reach. Unfortunately, she became ill and passed away without fulfilling her ambitions. Yet the seeds she sowed in Japan did not fall on barren soil, but eventually sprouted and took root. The existence of this foreign lady in Japan has long since been forgotten, but it would please me if I could pass along, to everyone reading this story, her thought that “human life rests upon immeasurable sacrifices by countless experimental animals”.