Laboratory animals can suffer because of scientific procedures, which cause pain and distress. In the UK and European Union, procedures are classified as 'non-recovery' (where the animal is under anaesthesia during the experiment and then killed whilst still unconscious) or as causing either 'mild', 'moderate' or 'severe' suffering. The types of procedures include taking blood samples, administering substances such as chemicals or new drugs (which may have side effects), and creating animal 'models' of diseases such as arthritis.
There's no doubt that animals can experience pain and distress as a result of being used in experiments, but there are also many other causes of suffering. One especially important factor is animal housing and care. Laboratory housing is unlikely to meet the full needs of any animal, even when efforts are made to provide a more stimulating environment.
For as long as animals are used in research, we want to ensure that their suffering is minimised as much as possible and that they can have positive experiences during their lives.
We believe that much more can, and should, be done to reduce the suffering of lab animals. We use animal welfare science and work collaboratively with the scientific community to influence change and make the greatest impact.
How can lab animal welfare be improved?
Each person involved in the research and testing process has a responsibility to look after an animal’s physical and emotional needs throughout their lifetime. Here are some of the actions they can take to reduce animal suffering.
- Recognise that animals are individuals with their own intrinsic worth and welfare needs.
- Take every opportunity to reduce impacts on animals, with the aim of enabling each animal to have a 'good life'. This means using expert knowledge and evidence to go far beyond minimum legal standards, as well as keeping up to date with ongoing research and current practice.
- Make sure the relevant people are kept aware of current research on animal behaviour, their welfare needs, and refinements to housing, husbandry and care. This would involve laboratory staff training, for example, and providing the right resources to the Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB).
- Be prepared to invest enough funds, time and resources to meet the welfare needs of lab animals properly.
- Openly share good practice through publications, user groups, meetings and online forums.
What is ‘severe’ suffering?
While we work hard to improve the lives of all laboratory animals who are suffering, we believe that helping the animals who suffer most needs to be a top priority.
‘Severe’ suffering is the highest level of pain or distress that animals may experience in research and testing. ‘Suffering’ can mean physical pain, psychological distress, and feelings such as nausea. Procedures that can cause severe suffering include some safety tests involving high doses of a substance, 'models' of diseases that sadly cause severe suffering in humans, such as cancer pain, and long-term experiments where suffering can 'build-up' over time.
Worldwide, it’s estimated that about 10 million individual animals used in experiments experience severe suffering each year. That’s around 10 percent of the animals used in research and testing.
In the UK, around four percent of scientific procedures are classed as causing severe suffering, which means that more than 50,000 animals experience severe pain and distress each year.
Encouraging news
From 2014 to 2024, figures show that the number of animals experiencing severe suffering when used in experiments fell by 68 percent in the UK. Our pioneering project, Focus on Severe Suffering, has significantly contributed towards this reduction through education, training and awareness-raising. The numbers are moving in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go.
Watch our video to find out if we can end 'severe' suffering of animals used in research.
What are we doing to help lab animals?
We work with all the people who can make a difference to laboratory animals: scientists, lab animal technologists and care staff, members of animal welfare and ethics committees, those who regulate animal use, and governments and funders. We’ve produced a practical 'Roadmap’ that helps the scientific community reduce and avoid severe suffering through a series of steps to follow and goals to meet.
We also reach out and offer guidance through presentations, events, international conferences, peer-reviewed reports, and our online information and advice resource. We organise expert working groups to encourage the sharing of knowledge and brainstorm ways forward. And we have always worked to help lab rodents, for example by joining with UFAW to hold an annual Rodent Welfare Meeting to enable people to share good practice.
We promote robust ethical review to encourage effective challenges around whether and how animals are used in research and testing. We work to empower AWERBs, which review and advise on animal use at establishments, and sit on several of these as independent members.
We visit research institutions around the UK to talk about ways of reducing animal use and suffering and improving their welfare. We also run workshops and discussion sessions.
Improving welfare for laboratory fishes
Zebrafish are the second most commonly used animal in research and testing in the UK (after mice). Other fish species used in labs include carp, guppies and trout. People are aware of our work to help lab rodents, for example, by joining with UFAW to hold an annual Rodent Welfare Meeting to enable people to share good practice. But according to recent research, nearly 50% of people don’t realise that fishes are sentient animals who can experience pain, fear and distress. This lack of understanding is reflected in how fishes are used in laboratories, as they're sometimes seen as 'less sentient' than other animals.
Our aim is to change perceptions of fishes and their ability to suffer and we encourage labs to improve their practices. We stress the need for enrichment, so that fishes in tanks can carry out more of the behaviours they would in the wild. This includes a ‘substrate’ such as gravel or sand on the floor, shelters for hiding and resting, plants and rocks. We also call for people to provide fishes with the same level of animal welfare monitoring and pain relief for painful procedures as they do for all other lab animals.
We’re in contact with labs using fish around the world and we deliver talks, workshops and training, including an annual international ‘Focus on Fish’ webinar. We also produce discussion sheets for animal welfare ethics committees and have collaborated on guidelines around the better planning of experiments using fishes, to make sure any suffering is minimised.
