The latest numbers of laboratory animals by federal state for 2022, published yesterday by the German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), show that Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg had the highest total number of animals used in the name of science. Over half of the animals were "consumed" in these three federal states alone.
"It is an inglorious podium that Bavaria, NRW and Baden-Württemberg once again occupy in the laboratory animal statistics - acquired with the mental suffering, physical pain and death of hundreds of thousands of animals," criticizes Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation. "The federal states, like the federal government, must finally take action to replace animal experiments with modern research. For years, we have been criticizing the lack of an exit strategy from animal testing and the fact that the development and use of animal-free methods is not properly promoted. Action must be taken now!"
BAVARIA IS THE SAD LEADER - MOST "SURPLUS ANIMALS" KILLED IN NRW
If you add up all the animals that were used in animal experiments or killed for scientific purposes in 2022, for example to examine their organs, as well as the animals that were killed as "surplus", Bavaria has the largest number with 774,874 animals, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (755,773 animals) and Baden-Württemberg (644,408 animals). All three federal states already occupied the sad top positions in the previous year - in alternating order. The number of so-called surplus animals in Germany has been published since last year. These are animals that are bred for scientific purposes but are ultimately not "needed" - and are therefore often "disposed of" for purely economic reasons. Most of the "surplus animals", namely 323,655 out of 1,769,437 animals across Germany, were killed in NRW in 2022.
80 PERCENT OF ALL PRIMATES IN "USE" IN NRW
A total of 1,725,855 animals were used in experiments across Germany in 2022, with 4,207,231 "consumed" in the name of science. Mice were mainly used in all federal states, but dogs, cats and primates also suffered. The majority of primates - almost 80 percent - were used in North Rhine-Westphalia. They were primarily used there as part of legally prescribed toxicity tests.
Note to editors:
An overview with the figures for all 16 federal states can be found here. On request, we will be happy to send you an overview of the individual federal states, including the animal species concerned, purposes of use and figures for previous years.
