2022 Facts and Figures
How many animals were used by the RVC in 2022?
In 2022, the RVC used 8464 animals in research*. The vast majority of these (96%) were mice, zebrafish and domestic fowl. The latter species is used for applied research, the aim of which is to develop new treatments that improve the welfare of commercially reared chickens globally.
The figures below, show the numbers of scientific procedures that were carried out at the RVC on animals. These figures were declared to the Home Office as part of the 2022 annual return of procedures.
Numbers of animals that had procedures carried out on them were:
| Alpacas | 1 |
| Cattle | 4 |
| Dogs | 43 |
| Domestic fowl | 743 |
| Equines | 19 |
| Mice | 5759 |
| Pigs | 72 |
| Rats* | 207 |
| Sheep | 18 |
| Zebrafish | 1599 |
| Total | 8465 |
Numbers of procedures carried out at the RVC
| Alpaca | 1 |
| Cattle | 4 |
| Dogs | 56 |
| Domestic fowl | 1360 |
| Horses and ponies | 52 |
| Mice | 5834 |
| Pigs | 72 |
| Rats* | 206 |
| Sheep | 18 |
| Zebrafish | 1623 |
| Total | 9226 |
Number of animals that were killed following procedures carried out were:
| Dogs | 13 |
| Domestic fowl | 743 |
| Mice | 5759 |
| Pigs | 72 |
| Rats* | 206 |
| Sheep | 18 |
| Zebrafish | 1385 |
| Total | 8197 |
*April 2024: a project licence holder notified us of changes to the numbers that we previously reported in 2021 and 2022. Specifically, in 2022 we reported that 207 rats had procedures carried out on them whereas the correct number was 206 and that the total number of procedures carried out on rats were 555 when it should have been 206. This therefore meant the total number of animals used at the RVC was 8464 rather than 8465 and 9226 procedures were carried out rather than 9575. The numbers have been corrected here and the licence holder has resubmitted their return to the Home Office.
The Severity classifications of the procedures that were carried out:
| Sub-threshold | Mild | Moderate | Non-Recovery | Severe | totals |
| 1855 | 5550 | 1665 | 93 | 63 | 9226 |
| 20.1% | 60.2% | 18% | 1% | 0.7% |
The following numbers of animals were either rehomed or returned to their owners:
| Rehomed | Returned to owners/herd* | |
| Chickens** | 8 | |
| Dogs | 49 | 20 |
| Equines*** | 2 | 15 |
| Guinea Pigs** | 4 | |
| Mice** | 4 | |
| Rats** | 2 |
* these were animals where their owners gave permission for their animals to be used in studies conducted under A(SP)A.
** These were teaching animals
*** two equines were euthanised for veterinary reasons.
At the RVC we run studies under A(SP)A that involve client-owned animals, who are veterinary patients. These studies involve procedures of recognised veterinary practice that cannot be undertaken under the Veterinary Surgeons Act (such as taking additional blood samples), as these tests are for research purposes, rather than for the direct benefit of the animal involved in the study. The client-owners all gave informed consent for their animals to be involved in these studies and they were returned to their care at the end of each procedure.
We also have a dog colony where we are studying and looking after dogs that have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. As part of the management of this colony, we rehome puppies that are unaffected by this disease.
For more information on these types of studies and the animals involved see Research using Client-owned Animals.
See also Use of Animals in Research - Case Studies for a series of short articles explaining how and why we use animals in research at the RVC.
The proportion of our funded research that relates to animal work
As a measure of the proportion of our research that involves experimental animals, the amount of external grant funding used to cover the costs of purchasing and keeping the animals has been calculated as a percentage of the total non-pay spend from external grants. This is 14.5%.
| BSU charges to research grants - total | 421,539 |
| Total non-pay cost to research grants | 2,912,000 |
| % | 14.5% |
For details of animals used in previous years please see: