There might be a place for animal research, but sadly it's become just a way for medical quacks to pad their resumes so they can claim to have coveted "lab experience"

Some of the dumb experiments they run involve torturing animals, such as burning them alive, sometimes hundreds of subjects, to test how they respond to burn creams. 

The first step of some of these experiments involves removing the animals' vocal chords so lab techs don't have to hear their screaming.  Speaks for itself.