An animal test is any scientific experiment or test in which a live

animal is forced to undergo something that is likely to cause them

pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm.

Animal experiments are not the same as taking your companion

animal to the vet. Animals used in laboratories are deliberately
harmed, not for their own good, and are usually killed at the end of the
experiment.

Animal experiments
Animal experiments include:

 injecting or force feeding animals with potentially harmful

substances
 exposing animals to radiation
 surgically removing animals’ organs or tissues to deliberately
cause damage
 forcing animals to inhale toxic gases
 subjecting animals to frightening situations to create anxiety and
depression.

Animals used
Only vertebrate animals (mammals, birds, fish and amphibians) and
some invertebrates such as octopuses are defined as ‘animals’ by
European legislation governing animal experiments. Shockingly, in the
USA rats, mice, fish, amphibians and birds are not defined as animals
under animal experiments regulations. That means no legal
permission to experiment on them is needed and they are not
included in any statistics.

Animals used in experiments are usually bred for this purpose by the
laboratory or in breeding facilities. It’s a cruel, multi-million dollar
industry. Cruelty Free International believes that all animals are
equally important. A dog bred for research is still a dog who could
otherwise live a happy life in a loving home.

Some monkeys are still trapped in the wild in Africa, Asia and South
America to be used in experiments or imprisoned in breeding facilities.
Their children are exported to laboratories around the world. The use
of wild-caught monkeys in experiments is generally banned in Europe
but is allowed elsewhere.

Horses and other animals such as cows, sheep and pigs are often
supplied by dealers and may originate from racing stables or farms for
use in animal experiments. The rules preventing the use of stray
companion animals like dogs and cats vary from country to country.

Animal suffering
A large proportion of animal experiments in the EU are reported to
cause ‘moderate’ or ‘severe suffering’ to the animals - according to
the researchers who carry them out. In the UK in 2018, 31% of animal
experiments involved moderate or severe suffering.

Some experiments require the animal to die as part of the test. For
example, regulatory tests for botox, vaccines and some tests for
chemical safety are essentially variations of the cruel Lethal Dose 50
test in which 50% of the animals die or are killed very close to death.