Thousands of animals are suffering in Irish laboratories right now

Most people are very surprised to learn that animals are routinely used and killed in laboratories around Ireland. People are very concerned when they hear that experiments are conducted in this country on dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters and pigs as well as the most commonly used rats and mice.

Animal suffering in Irish laboratories reaches record levels!

The 2010 statistics on animal experimentation in Ireland, released by the Department of Health on Monday 6th February 2012, have revealed that 279,609 animals were sacrificed in Irish laboratories in 2010. This is the highest figure ever recorded, placing Ireland near the top of the European table for per capita animal experimentation and undermining the country’s reputation for high animal welfare standards.

This is a rise of 30,000 on 2009, and continues the unprecedented expansion of animal experimentation in Ireland since 2005, when 37,940 animals were used. There has been an astonishing 636% increase over just five years. To read the IAVS 2010 Irish animal experimentation statistics briefing, click here.

The Department of Health publish the Animal Procedures Statistics each year which gives a breakdown of the species and numbers of animals used in experiments in Ireland. However, thousands more animals are bred and killed simply because they are surplus to requirement, or were the wrong sex or genetic make up for a particular experiment. The Department of Health does not collect information about these animals or publish the number of animals involved. We therefore cannot determine the total number of animals dying each year due to vivisection in Ireland.

Worldwide it is calculated that 20,000 animals die every hour in laboratories.