Experimenters are getting the message that tormenting animals in laboratories is cruel and antiquated. Data released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show a nearly 10 percent decrease in the numbers of USDA-regulated animals confined to and experimented on in U.S. laboratories from 2014 to 2015.
The number has dipped below 1 million for the first time since animals in laboratories have been counted—nearly half a century.
But we are troubled by an increase in the numbers of cats, dogs, guinea pigs, pigs, and rabbits as well as some other species used in experiments that cause unrelieved pain, and we continue to call on agencies to eliminate these excruciating studies and also to extend Animal Welfare Act protections to the nearly 100 million mice, rats, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians who currently are not even counted—much less protected—by federal law.
What You Can Do
There are easy ways to lend your voice to animals suffering in experiments, and together we can stop animal testing. Take a look at seven ways you can help animals, including buying cruelty free products, and signing our petition to ban testing!
