Transparency data

Animal usage by APHA under Animals (Scientific Procedures ) (ASPA) act in 2023

Updated 25 July 2024

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is a signatory to the Concordat on Openness in Animal Research and committed to providing opportunities for the public to find out how animals are used in research at APHA.

This information provides the number of animals used in studies that were completed in 2023 and the reasons for their use. It excludes breeding mice and transgenic breeding mice where the modification to their DNA has had no effect on their health or welfare.

Except for research on wildlife and farm animal surveillance which are done in the field, animals are euthanised at the end of studies. Rehoming only occurs in exceptional cases. This is due to the nature of the experiments and infectious agents APHA works with to deliver its mission to “safeguard animal and plant health for the benefit of people, the environment and the economy”.

The infectious agents used are generally subject to statutory controls, which puts restrictions on the ability of animals to leave the establishment site and therefore the ability to re-home animals.

APHA has an ongoing programme of work to replace its use of animals when scientific developments allow. APHA also works to minimise any potential wastage of animals by limiting the number of animals coming on site to only those that are necessary to undertake its experiments. The only animals bred on site are those that are not available through appropriately licenced suppliers.

As part of its ‘Culture of Care’ for working with animals, APHA has codes of practice, working procedures and training programmes to define and enforce the high standards it must have for this type of work.

You can find more information in the Ethics Committee’s section of the Research at APHA page.

APHA is committed to eliminating severe suffering where at all possible in its use of animals for research. As part of this, in 2022 members of the ethics committee, and relevant project and personal licence holders, took part in a workshop led by the RSPCA on implementing the Roadmap to Reducing Severe Suffering.

Number of animals used in studies and reasons for their use

Species	Number	Severity	Reasons for use
Cattle	662	• 659 mild • 3 sub threshold	Most were used for the licensing of vaccines for protection of cattle against foot and mouth disease, to benefit global animal health.  Find more information about the major effect of the disease on the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) website. A small number were used in the development of cattle vaccine against bovine TB, as part of Defra’s strategy to eradicate the disease by 2038. Bovine TB currently leads to the slaughter of 27,000 cattle in the UK per year. A small number were used on an ongoing basis as blood donors providing negative control blood for in-vitro work.
Domestic fowl	672	• 608 mild • 4 moderate • 60 severe	The majority were used in avian influenza and Newcastle disease research as part of national and WOAH reference laboratory activities. These include provision of antigen, antisera and negative control material for animal health tests. Find out more about APHA’s activities on avian influenza (APHA Science Blog) and information on bird flu: latest situation in England. A small number were used for research into antimicrobial resistance, one of the top 10 global public health threats (APHA Science Blog).
Pigeon	55	mild	Pigeons were used for Newcastle disease research as part of national and WOAH reference laboratory responsibilities, as detailed under the reasons for using domestic fowl.
Ferrets	18	moderate	Ferrets were used for Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus infection model development. RVF virus can cause severe disease in both humans and animals.
Mice	584	• 560 moderate • 21 severe • 3 sub threshold	Mice were used for research into transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) in support of the national and WOAH reference laboratory activities. Read more about APHA activities in this area, both in-vivo and in-vitro, at TSE Global Net: International Reference Laboratory for TSE.
Pigs	70	mild	Most animals were used for the licensing of vaccines for protection of pigs against foot and mouth disease, to benefit global animal health. A small number were used on an ongoing basis as blood donors providing negative control blood for in-vitro work.
Sheep	14	• 13 mild • 1 moderate	The majority of sheep were used for ongoing blood donors for negative control blood for in-vitro work. One sheep infected with scrapie was used to supply materials to develop and maintain tests for APHA’s ongoing testing capability for scrapie surveillance.  Read guidance on scrapie.
Goats	16	mild	Naturally-infected scrapie goats were used to supply materials for APHA’s ongoing testing capability for scrapie surveillance.
Rabbits	216	mild	Rabbits were used to produce polyclonal antisera for tests as part of controlling food borne zoonoses and antibiotic resistance to protect health (APHA Science Blog).
Guinea pigs	25	non-recovery	Ex-breeding guinea pigs were used as blood donors for tests for porcine parvovirus (PPV). PPV is considered the main cause of reproductive disorders in pigs, including stillbirth, mummification, embryonic death, and infertility.
Grey squirrels and rats	164	mild	Grey squirrels and rats were used for developing fertility control to support red squirrel conservation (APHA Science Blog).