Most of the cold blooded specimens we will use were captured in the field, killed, and preserved. Ethical decisions regarding the use of animals for research and teaching are highly personal matters. If you continue your study in the life sciences you should develop your own set of guidelines for animal research. I use animals in my teaching, but I respect those whose opinions differ from mine. Please remember that animal research only becomes an issue in specific areas of biological research, and that an aversion to such animal use does not preclude a career in biology.
Many molecular biologists deal exclusively with bacteria or protists.
As a plant ecologist, my use of animals over the past ten years has been limited to dissection exercises in introductory biology courses. The only animals that died in the course of my research were some mosquitoes and ticks. If you find that your own ethical guidelines will not allow you to participate in our fetal pig dissection, I have an alternative exercise that will help you meet the objectives of the dissection lab without actually using a fetal pig.