Protestors have forced a leading medical body to abandon a planned surgical workshop using anaesthetised sheep.

The workshop was to have taken place at a meeting of t he Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Auckland next week but will now no longer go ahead.

Anti-Vivisection Society campaigner Cressida Wilson says members of her organisation pointed out there were alternatives like virtual reality trainers and cadavers they could use rather than anaesthetised sheep.

"So many of our supporters said to them that they weren't happy this was occurring."

"What would have been the best outcome for us would have been if they had decided to adopt some human-based models to use for not only this workshop but for ones in the future," she said.