Transparency data

Animal usage by APHA under Animals (Scientific Procedures ) (ASPA) act in 2024

Updated 28 July 2025

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

This table provides the number of animals used in studies that were completed in 2024 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 euthanased at the end of studies, with rehoming only occurring 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 on going 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 animals coming on site just to those 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 and severity	Reasons for use
Cattle	691 mild, 1 subthreshold	Most were used for the licensing of vaccines for protection of cattle against foot and mouth disease, to benefit global animal health. More information about the major effect that foot and mouth disease has on unprotected animals areas of the world can be found on the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) website - foot and mouth disease. A small number were used in the development of cattle vaccine against bovine TB, as part of Defra’s strategy to eradicate bovine TB by 2038. Bovine TB led to the slaughter of over 34,000 cattle in the UK last year. A small number were used on an ongoing basis as blood donors providing negative control blood for in-vitro work. The single subthreshold animal was a field case of border disease. The animal was persistently infected but did not show clinical signs. Find more information about border disease in cattle.
Domestic fowl	1,447 mild, 45 severe, 32 subthreshold	The majority were used in avian influenza and Newcastle disease research as part of National and World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reference laboratory activities, which include provision of antigen, antisera and negative control material for animal health tests. The 45 severe were involved in an experiment assessing a vaccine to protect against the outbreak strain of avian influenza. Find more information on APHA’s activities in this disease in the an APHA science blog on avian influenza and information on bird flu (avian influenza): latest situation in England - GOV.UK. The 32 subthreshold were used for research into antimicrobial resistance, which is considered one of the top 10 global public health threats. More details are in the APHA Science Blog ‘APHA and partners in the battle against a growing global health crisis’.
Pigeon	48 mild	Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) work relating to on-farm and small holding biosecurity.
Ferrets	76 mild	Influenza virus studies, which includes assessment of immunogenicity and efficacy of an H1N1 vaccine.
Mice	4 mild, 392 moderate, 25 severe, 3 non-recovery	Research into Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies in support of the national and WOAH reference laboratory activities. Find details of APHA’s activities in this area, both in-vivo and in-vitro at TSEglobalNet - International Reference Laboratory for TSE.
Pigs	40 mild, 2 moderate, 1 severe	Most were used for the licencing of vaccines for protection of pigs against foot and mouth disease, to benefit global animal health. More information about the major effect that foot and mouth disease has on unprotected animals areas of the world can be found on the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) website - foot and mouth disease. 12 pigs, including the 2 moderates, were used in an experiment to test protection against classical swine fever in pigs that had been gene edited under a project licence at another institute to develop resistance to the disease. Classical swine fever is a serious and notifiable disease of pigs. The last outbreak in the UK was in 2000 and involved the culling 75,000 pigs. Read guidance on classical swine fever: how to spot and report the disease. The animal that was classified as severe was due to unexpected complications experienced during a routine technique. A small number were used on an ongoing basis as blood donors providing negative control blood for in-vitro work.
Sheep	12 mild, 3 moderate	The majority were used for ongoing blood donors for negative control blood for in-vitro work. The 3 moderate animals were scrapie infected for supply of materials to develop and maintain tests for APHA’s ongoing testing capability for surveillance. Read guidance on scrapie.
Goats	33 mild	Naturally infected scrapie goats for supply of materials for APHA’s ongoing testing capability for surveillance. Read guidance on scrapie.
Rabbits	162 mild	Production of polyclonal antisera for tests as part of controlling food borne zoonoses and antibiotic resistance to protect health (APHA Science Blog).
Guinea pigs	24 non-recovery	Ex-breeding animals used as blood donors for tests for porcine parvovirus (PPV) which is considered the main cause of reproductive disorders in pigs (including stillbirth, mummification, embryonic death and infertility).
Grey squirrels and rats	138 mild	Wildlife management techniques, primarily to support red squirrel conservation (APHA Science Blog).