Statistics
UK
Last year (2009) the UK used over 3,541,252 animals in 3,619,540 procedures. Numbers have been increasing in recent years and are now at the same level they were over 20 years ago when the new legislation was introduced (Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986).
Animals used in 2009 included:
19,049 guinea pigs; 11,643 rabbits; 4,129 dogs; 172 cats; 199 horses; 2,815 monkeys.
(Home Office 2010. Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2009. The Stationary Office, London. HC933. http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/scientific1.html)
Europe
The latest figures are only for 2005, in which 12.1 million animals were used. France, the UK and Germany were the highest users of animals. The numbers reported are lower than national figures because they don’t have to report certain types of animals such as GM animals. Through its use of 3.1 million animals, the UK is the largest user of animals.
- The 25 countries then in the EU (there are now 27) reported that they used 24,119 dogs, 312, 681 rabbits, 649,183 birds and 10,449 monkeys.
- 73% of old world monkeys are still being imported from non-EU countries, e.g. Asian countries
- 231,613 animals were used in acute lethal toxicity tests that can result in death, like the LD50. 841 of these were dogs.
(European Commission (2007) Fifth Report on the Statistics on the Number of Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes in the Member States of the European Union)
Internationally
Recent research by the BUAV and Dr Hadwen Trust suggests between 82 and 154 million vertebrate animals (115 million on average) may be used worldwide each year. 79% of countries don’t appear to publish the number they use. Based on our results, and controlling for the same uses and types of animals we estimate that the top 10 countries are United States, Japan, China, Australia, France, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Taiwan and Brazil.
(Taylor, K et al. 2008. Estimates of worldwide laboratory animal use in 2005. Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 36, 327–342.)
