Two friends save life of severely injured lab rabbit

ISTANBUL

Two friends from the Aegean province of Aydın have adopted a rabbit who endured the trauma and physical scars it suffered in a laboratory conducting experiments on animals in a bid to save its life.

The rabbit’s ears were cut off and two legs were severely damaged due to laboratory experiments conducted on it.

“Our rabbit’s name is Zulu. It was used in laboratory experiments in 2017. We adopted it to save its life,” said Zekeriya Gökçen and Pelin Zorlukol.

Telling Zulu’s story of “coming back to life” to daily Hürriyet, the two friends said, “There were scars on every part of its body when we found it.”

As it was put in a cage in a laboratory for a long time, it took nearly two years for Zulu to stop running away from people and trust its new owners.

The healing process has been difficult for Zulu, but now the scars are gone, “its skin and ears are healthier than before.”

However, “the damage in the legs is permanent,” Gökçen noted.

Supporting the animation called “Save Ralph,” which went viral on social media, the friends posted Zulu’s video on social media to draw attention to lab experiments, saying that they are totally against animal testing.

“There are animals that are being tested in harsh environments in laboratories. Some live without seeing daylight,” Gökçen stressed.

The Anti-Vivisection Association in Turkey proposes new alternative methods for lab experiments without the use of animals.

We hope that the association’s methods would replace animal testing, and “animals will be free,” Gökçen added.

“Save Ralph” is a four-minute mockumentary telling the story of a rabbit named Ralph, who works in a lab that tests cosmetics on animals.

Ralph, voiced by Taika Waititi, is blind from one eye and can only hear a ringing sound from his right ear while his body is covered with chemical burns, making it painful to move.