Humans use and abuse animals for many purposes, including the production and testing of traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) products. While some animals may benefit from T&CM interventions, many more suffer harm. In both animal experimentation and for the production of T&CM products, animals can be exposed to stress, pain, artificially induced diseases and/or ultimately killed. However, the use of animals in T&CM products (for example, oil extracted from the blubber of the River Dolphin or the intestines of a porcupine) is more ethically challenging than the use of animals in T&CM research. First, research is better regulated. Second, animals used in research are often bred for purpose whereas most of the animals used for T&CM products are taken from the wild in an unregulated manner and many are endangered species such as rhinos, and tigers. Ethical challenges for the use of animals in T&CM products are analysed together with potential for adoption of the same ethical principles that govern animal experimentation (replacement, reduction, refinement).