In 2023, 63 procedures were carried out on cats in the UK, all for basic research (general knowledge).

10 days later, the Home Office replied that cats were used for immune system research, multisystemic research, urogenital/reproductive system research and research to develop a treatment for improving the length and quality of life for patients with muscular dystrophy (this is inaccurate. Dogs are used for muscular dystrophy research, not cats). They also (inaccurately) stated that animal testing is used in ‘limited circumstances’, ‘required to deliver important benefits to people, the environment, and other animals’, and that there is ‘robust, rigorous and trustworthy regulation of those procedures.’

2.68 million procedures were carried out on animals in 2023, so the claim that animal testing occurs in ‘limited circumstances’ is misleading. Moreover, despite claiming ‘robust, rigorous and trustworthy regulation of procedures’, many reports detail neglect and errors causing unnecessary suffering, including during ADI’s own investigations of animal use in laboratories. In 2020, dozens of rats were crushed to death inside a rubbish compactor at a Charles River laboratory. In 2022, a primate died after becoming trapped in restraints; 120 fish died after water was drained from their tank; five rabbits were left without water for 45 hours; 13,000 fish died after chlorine was added to their tank.

The use of animals in research is fundamentally flawed due to known biological differences between species. Animals are affected by laboratory conditions, and results are known to vary from laboratory to laboratory. Animal research is unreliable, unethical, and unnecessary.

Advanced technology avoids the problems of species differences in research and testing, as the focus is on human data, not animals. We urge the Government to end animal testing and fund advanced non-animal methods.

Picture: cat with an implant in neurology study.