Earlier this month the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) released its report on the number of animals used in Canada for scientific purposes. The CCAC is an independent oversight body that oversees the ethical use of animals in research. They also develop guidelines and promote training programs to ensure that all individuals involved in animal research or welfare are properly trained before being allowed to work with the animals. The CCAC reports that in 2012, 2,889,009 animals were used for research, teaching and testing in Canada. This is down 444,680 animals, from 3,333,689 animals that were used in 2011. These numbers include all vertebrates and Cephalapods, but do not include invertebrates like fruit flies or nematode worms. Animals can be used in more than one protocol provided these additional protocols do not result in pain.
Mice (43.2%), fish (28.8%), rats (7.8%) and birds (6.6%) were the most common species, together accounting for 86% of animals used. These numbers represent a shift in the type of animal used, as fish have been the animal most frequently used by Canadian institutions for the past three years. The majority of animals (61%) were used in studies of a fundamental nature/basic research, representing 1,815,083 animals. There has been significant changes to the reporting methodology utilized to analyze the current data and the CCAC made the following statement with respect to the 2012, report:
“Due to these differences in data management and reporting, it is not possible to make accurate comparisons with CCAC PAU and CI data from previous years.”
More information about animal research in Canada can be found within the Speaking of Research Media Briefing Notes for Canada.
Michael
Speaking of Research 