This week we attended a meeting of the All-party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG), chaired by Dr Lisa Cameron MP and TV vet Marc Abraham. Alongside an expert panel, including actor and animal rights campaigner Peter Egan, we participated in debate on the continued use and relevance of dogs in experiments.

Every year over 200,000 dogs across the world are used in laboratories for research into various diseases and in the testing of new drugs and agrochemicals, causing an unimaginable degree of suffering and pain. Thanks to funding from your kind donations, we were able to share our ground-breaking research, showing why testing drugs meant for humans on dogs is neither scientifically valid nor sufficiently predictive for humans.

Cruelty Free International Senior Research Scientist Dr Jarrod Bailey also presented his recent scientific review, demonstrating that the emotional and intellectual capacities of dogs are much more advanced than many scientists previously accepted and that their suffering in experiments is greater.

We called on the Home Office to collaborate with Cruelty Free International, utilising our knowledge and expertise to develop a strategy to help take recommendations forward, and make a meaningful commitment to ending the participation of dogs in experiments and research for good.

Thanks to your generous support, later this year we’ll also be launching our global campaign to end the use of dogs in experiments – so dog lovers, watch this space.

Michelle Thew, CEO of Cruelty Free International, says: “The use of dogs in experiments is one of the greatest controversies of our times. We urge decision-makers to consider the latest evidence and to ensure that humane and human-relevant methods for testing the safety of medicines and chemicals are adopted, instead of subjecting thousands of dogs to unnecessary suffering in laboratories every year.”

Peter Egan, actor and animal rights campaigner, said: “Dogs are sensitive and compassionate animals who belong in loving homes not laboratories. With the development of alternative testing methods there is absolutely no need to inflict this suffering on our best friends. I am fully supportive of the Cruelty Free International campaign to put an end to these cruel and unnecessary experiments.”

Dr Lisa Cameron, MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, said: “As a society we have progressed from a time when animal models were the only option. Better more appropriate methods now exist and there is no need for cruel experiments on dogs to continue.”