Use of animals in scientific education: legal analysis

Among the recognized scientific purposes for which the employment of animals can be both required and justified, we can include the educational purpose. This is a practice dating back to ancient times when scientists together with artists, philosophers and geniuses as Leonardo da Vinci - just think of his research and investigation about human anatomy - were fascinated by living organisms and their related studies. Moreover, they all perceived how beneficial the use of animals could be both to specific research and to general culture in the sense of supplying them with a valid model. This notion recognised the importance of animals to scientific culture and vice versa; inspiring both philosophical considerations and legal interventions, up to the creation of a complex system of principles based on the protection and welfare of animals.