Protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes

The objective of this report is to present to the Council and the European Parliament, in accordance with Article 26 of Directive 86/609/EEC the statistical data on the number of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes in the Member States of the EU.

The EU 10 are reporting data for the first time, and, therefore, it is not possible to draw conclusions on the evolution of the use of animals for experimental purposes in the EU by comparing data with those of the previous reports. However, some comparisons in trends will be attempted and significant changes in use will be highlighted in the report. Malta informed the Commission that no animal experiments were carried out in their country in 2005.

The total number of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes in 2005 in the 25 Member States (EU 25) amounts to 12.1 million (with data from France of 2004). The number of animals used in the EU 10 represents 8.6% of the total number of animals used in the EU 25.

As in previous reports rodents together with rabbits represent almost 78% of the total number of animals used in the EU. Mice are by far the most commonly used species covering 53% of the total use, followed by rats with 19%. The second most used group of animals was, as in previous years, cold-blooded animals representing 15%. The third biggest group of animals was birds with a little over 5% of the total use.

As in 2002, no Great Apes were used in experiments in the EU in 2005.