Scottish and Welsh laboratories caused 'unacceptable levels of suffering' to animals in 2014. The UK Government has failed to seriously reduce the numbers of animals used in experiments since 2013.

According to the Home Office figures, there were a total of 553,060 animal experiments in Scotland and 52,927 animal experiments in Wales during 2014. More than 75,000 animals were in tests that researchers considered to cause moderate or severe suffering.

Animals used included mice (413,608 experiments), rats (37,911 experiments), birds (18,737 experiments), rabbits (3,142 experiments), guinea-pigs (1,417 experiments), non-human primates (652), dogs (1,214 experiments), cats (24 experiments), horses/donkeys (1,793 experiments), pigs (1,147 experiments), sheep (9,016 experiments), cattle (1,642 experiments), frogs (1,421 experiments) and fish (110,998 experiments).

Scottish and Welsh universities including the University of Edinburgh and University of Cardiff were responsible for cruel animal experiments to look at human health issues such as stress, dieting, heart disease and infertility. In tests, animals had holes drilled in their heads, acid injected into their brain and were pickled alive.

Dr Katy Taylor, Director of Science at Cruelty Free International, said: “The number of animals suffering in Scottish and Welsh laboratories, as revealed by these statistics, is unacceptable. Instead of continuing with these cruel and pointless experiments, which have failed to bring about any real benefit to human health, we urge researchers in Scotland and Wales to shift their focus to more humane and human-relevant research. Scotland and Wales should be leading the way in reducing animal testing.”

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