Report Reveals Neglect of Animals Used for Experimentation

Experimenters in the UK continue to evade consequences for abysmal breaches of law that cause animals in laboratories even more suffering. The latest Animals in Science Regulation Unit annual report from the Home Office reveals that more than 150,000 animals, including dogs, monkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, mice, birds, fish, and other species, were victims of violations in 2023.

Neglect, Incompetence, and Disregard for Animals in Laboratories

Most instances of non-compliance related to experimenters’ failure to meet the minimum care standards afforded by the law, such as clean cages, and the breaching of licensing conditions by performing unauthorised procedures. Failing to provide for even the most basic needs – food and water – remains a problem.

Examples of experimenters’ neglect, incompetence, and disregard for animals include the following:

In experiments affecting over 900 mice and rats, despite supposedly strict regulations designed to minimise harm, workers either deliberately or through ignorance used more crude, painful, and distressing methods of carrying out procedures, causing avoidable suffering to animals in their charge.
Animals deprived of basic care included 11 adult and infant primates who were left in outside pens overnight without food or water, mice who were abandoned in experimental imaging equipment for three days without food and water and had to be euthanised, and a mouse left outside in a disposable cage overnight without access to water.
Experimenters subjected animals to unauthorised procedures, including surgically attaching a probe to a mouse’s skull and using 30 mice in behavioural tests that were not permitted.
Incompetent staff jammed tubes down 42 rats’ throats in breach of licensing conditions, took more blood than was allowed from six rats, administered a substance in error to 10 mice, and subjected pregnant mothers to procedures because experimenters hadn’t realised they were expecting.
Laboratories exceeded the number of animals they were permitted to use by 6,115 more mice, 101,712 more rats, and 966 more rabbits and bred 1,585 more animals than was allowed.
Failure to ensure the working order of equipment resulted in 20,000 mice being exposed to elevated temperatures and humidity, in which 37 of the animals died, and hundreds of mice being exposed to constant light. Broken watering systems also flooded several cages, drowning dozens of infant and adult mice.
Negligent laboratory staff caught and forgot about seven birds in bags, only to find all of them dead four days later.
A sealed cage was incorrectly placed on a rack in a position that cut off airflow to mice.
On multiple occasions, mice and rats died – or were found injured and without access to food or water and then euthanised – because they were trapped in the cage – often by their tail under the cage lid.
Suffering animals were not euthanised within a timeline considered “humane”, including two dogs, one hamster, many mice – including one who was forced to endure the agony of an oversized tumour – and two rats who were left to suffer for 69 hours after they should have been euthanised.
Over 3,000 fish suffered or died from being kept in poor-quality water, not being given enough water, critical flaws in their tank that allowed them to escape, and from water being contaminated with bleach.
Experimenters kept mice in dirty cages without food and water, and others were subjected to severely crowded conditions, which led to the death of 20 out of 30 mice in one transport box.
Animals, including rabbits, fish, and mice, were reported to have escaped, and missing mice were recorded as likely having “entered the waste disposal process”. A mouse was even trapped in a waste bin without food or water for 45 hours and was euthanised when discovered.

Violations Increase Annually

Instances of non-compliance have risen over the past four years, and the latest figures show little improvement. This annual summary of the industry’s failings consistently documents that neglecting to attend to animals’ most basic needs is rife – and this carelessness is becoming more widespread, as cases of failure to provide proper care, including food and water, have nearly trebled since 2020, from 37 to 96.

Experimenters Face No Consequences

Instead of taking immediate action to strip those responsible of their licences and have them criminally charged, most were given a nudge and a wink to not do it again. Despite egregious neglect, no licences were suspended. Approximately 70% of perpetrators received only advice from inspectors, and others received a letter of reprimand or compliance notice.

And as most cases (88%) of non-compliance were self-reported, rather than being picked up by Home Office inspectors, they likely reflect only a fraction of the number of animals actually impacted. It’s heartbreaking to consider the amount of suffering that goes undocumented out of view of the public.

The industry’s failure to comply with even the minimal protections afforded to animals in laboratories demonstrates how these sentient individuals are regarded as disposable equipment.

Experiments on Animals Are Cruel and Ineffective

Animals are subjected to cruelty in experiments because of speciesism, the misguided belief that humans are more important than other species. But all animals are living, feeling beings with their own personalities, and no one wants to be tortured and killed in a laboratory.

Research has shown that insurmountable species differences mean experiments on animals are not relevant to humans, and reliance on animal use is holding back scientific progress. Today’s forward-thinking scientists are using and developing non-animal methods that are actually relevant to human health.

Help End Experiments on Animals

PETA scientists have developed the Research Modernisation Deal, a roadmap detailing how the government can end all experiments on animals and transition to techniques fit for the 21^st century. Sign PETA’s petition calling on the government to end experiments on animals now: