Treatment of animals

Great Britain is one of the biggest reported users of animals in Europe. In 2023, there were 2.68 million procedures involving living animals carried out in Great Britain. Since 2015, the UK Government found that, aside from the pandemic, the annual number of procedures carried out on animals in the UK has consistently fallen. Source
In the UK, mice, fish, rats and birds make up the large majority of animals used for experiments, but cats, dogs, horses and primates are also used. Source
In 2021, China ended its mandatory animal testing requirements for imported cosmetic products that fall into the ‘general’ category. Source
In a 2024 survey conducted by OnePoll for Animal Aid, 77% of respondents agree that there should be a ban on all research involving animals which is not legally required. 76% agree that existing funding and resources should be diverted from animal experiments to improve the development of non-animal methods.
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A 2021 YouGov survey found that 73% of Britons oppose testing cosmetics on animals. Another study also found that 63% of consumers intend to purchase cosmetic products that are not tested on animals. Source

According to 2021 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 900,000 cows, 1.4 million goats, 1.7 million sheep, 3.8 million pigs, 12 million ducks, 202 million chickens, and hundreds of millions of fish are slaughtered globally each day Source
In 2020, research from YouGov found that most Brits don’t know that common practices like beak trimming, separation of calves from their mothers, and use of carbon dioxide in slaughter are in the UK. Source

According to 2021 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 12.92 million sheep were killed for meat that year. Source
In 2021, approximately 11 million lambs and sheep were slaughtered in the UK – a decrease of around 1.5 million from the previous year. Source
In 2020, Viva! Found that lambs are sent to slaughter between the ages of 10 weeks to one year, despite the fact they could live up to 12 years old. Source

In 2021, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 11.38 million pigs were slaughtered for human consumption. Source
Around 1.4 billion pigs are slaughtered for meat annually worldwide. Source
Less than 3% of UK pigs spend their entire lives outdoors. Source
According to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, there has been a 75% reduction in antibiotic usage for treating pigs on farms between 2015-2024. Source
According to Compassion in Food Business, it is common for pregnant sows to be kept in ‘sow stalls’, narrow metal cages, for the duration of their 16-week pregnancy. Whilst sow stalls are illegal in the UK, Norway and Sweden, their use has been limited in the EU. Source
According to CAWF, sows produce 2.3 litters per year, spending approximately 80 days each year confined in farrowing crates. These crates only allow the sows to stand and lie down, without the ability to explore her environment. In 2021, the degree of restriction of movement has been described as more severe than any other form of confinement in European livestock farming. Source

According to a 2022 report by the Environment Agency, 74% of salmon rivers are thought to be at risk, meaning that they are no longer at sustainable levels. Source
According to 2018 data from Fishcount, between 25.1 - 114.6 million fish were killed for food in the UK that year. Source
According to a 2021 report by WWF, global freshwater fish populations have declined by 76 percent since the 1970s. Source
According to 2021 report by Oceana, only a third of the UK's main fish populations are in a healthy state and not overfished. Source
According to Faunalytics, in 2020 91,000,000 tones of fish were killed globally. Source

Globally, more than 66 billion chickens are reared annually as a source of meat. Source
In 2024, The Human League found that over a billion chickens are killed every year in the UK. While traditional battery cages are banned in the UK, ‘enriched cages’ are still widely in use. Although a small improvement from battery cages, birds in these cages do not have space to flap their wings. Source
In 2024, the University of Copenhagen estimate that approximately seven billion day-old male chicks are killed annually around the world. These killings occur in all types of egg production, including free-range and organic hens. Source
In 2022, The RSPCA found that around 40 million commercial egg-laying hens were kept in the UK. 65% of the eggs produced were in a free-range system, however a large proportion of eggs used as ingredients in products like cakes, mayonnaise and sandwiches are from hens kept in cages. Source
In 2022, The RSPCA found that 10 million turkeys were slaughtered for meat in the UK. Turkeys are larger than they would be in nature, and are unable to mate so are bred almost exclusively by artificial insemination. Source
According to a 2021 report from Defra, 35.5% of the eggs sold in the UK come from hens kept in cages. Source
Duck farming in in decline with an annual decrease of four million ducks from 2019-2020. Source

In 2022, 46,041 male calves aged up to two months old were killed in slaughterhouses. In the same year, 33,451 male calves of the same age were killed on-farm. Source
According to 2021 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2.6 million cows are slaughtered in the UK for human consumption. Source
Cows bred for their milk produce up to 10 times more milk than they naturally would. Source
Milk production per cow has more than doubled in the past 40 years, with the average dairy cow producing 22 litres per day in the UK. High-yielding dairy cows often live to be six years of age at most, because their milk production drops and/or they are chronically lame or infertile. In nature, cows can live as long as 15-20 years. Source

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