In Japan -
The spirits of animals were traditionally handled through special memorial ceremonies for animals. In such cases, the animals being memorialized were invariably those which had performed some useful service for human beings. Examples would include the memorials for cows and horses by farmers or horse traders; memorials for fish, porpoises, or whales by fishermen or whalers; or mounds built by professional hunters in honor of their game. Each of these involved certain ceremonies to be performed by a Buddhist priest, and often included the establishment of a memorial tower or mound.
Companies and research facilities use a large number of guinea pigs and other small animals for scientific experiments. Many companies perform a regular memorial ceremony, usually once a year, in honor of these animals.
from: Indebtedness and Comfort: The Undercurrents of Mizuko Kuyo in Contemporary Japan, Hoshione Eiki and Takeda Dosho (Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1987 14/14) translated from the Japanese by Paul L. Swanson
A speech given by Dr. Itakura at the start of the Animal Memorial Ceremony at Riken Institute (Wako campus) in Tokyo, Japan in 2005
As you may know, I am working as an Animal Experiment Supervisors for Wako Institute. At the beginning of this Memorial Service for Laboratory Animals, I would like to report the number of animals used for research in this Wako Institute in the last fiscal year, 2004. The animals includes 130,081 mice, 3,675 rats, 174 rabbits, 48 cats, 26 monkeys, 21 guinea pigs, 5 degu, 441 zebra finches, 20 ducks, and 1,500 chicken embryos. On the other hand, the number of staff who cared for or used these animals amounted to 759 people.
I hope all attendants give your deepest thanks to animals by offering flowers at this Animal Memorial Monument.
Thank you.
