Anaesthetists trained to deal with human patients may be required to anaesthetize animal
species as part of their involvement in biomedical research. Although the skills developed in
clinical anaesthesia are of obvious relevance, several problems may be encountered when
attempting to anaesthetize an unfamiliar species. This article reviews those areas which are
of greatest practical importance to medical anaesthetists and discusses the ethical and legal
aspects of research which involves the use of live animals.