Portugal's medical researchers got though 25,606 animals in 2014, and managed to kill nearly half of them in the process.
According to data from the General Directorate of Food and Veterinary services, these animals were used for 'experimental purposes' with 68% of them rodents such as mice, rats and hamsters.
The use of cold-blooded animals was logged, with zebrafish and other fish accounting for around a third of animals used.
The researchers used rabbits, pigs and goats for ‘basic research’ - some 16,385 creatures.
Research into the human nervous system was the most common reason, using up a supply of 4,492 rodents, followed by the cardiovascular, blood and lymphatic system requiring 708 rodents, 72 rabbits and five pigs, the gastrointestinal system, including the liver needing rodents and fish, oncology (303 rodents), the respiratory system (329 rodents), and the muscle and skeletal system (304 rodents and one unlucky fish).
The severity of the procedures meant that of the 25,606 animals used for experimental purposes, almost half (10,266) “have not recovered” i.e. they died.
Following an initiative by The Greens, MPs recommended to the Government, "the implementation of measures regarding the use of animals in scientific research," as they want to see fewer animals used and to "promote investment for the development of alternatives to the use of animals for experimental and other scientific purposes."
The MPs are aware that some institutions are not regulated, so suggest that they are, thus "maximising the well-being of animals."
In 2015, a petition calling for the immediate replacement of the use of animals in scientific research, regardless of purpose, attracted 1.2 million signatures but the government ignored this public indication that killing animals for research was not generally acceptable by the Portuguese public.
