ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR THE TREATMENT OF

ANIMALS
AO2

 Legal Requirements: Research must not break the law regarding endangered
and protected species. This particularly restricts research involving great apes
(chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans).
 Replacement: Where possible, live animals should be replaced with research
alternatives, like videos and computer simulations. Animals should only be used
as a last resort.
 Choice of Species: Species bred in captivity are ethically preferable to creatures
taken from the wild; research should be minimised if it involves
highly sentient (thinking, feeling) animals, like the great apes
 Reduction: The number of animals used should be minimised as much as
possible; this involves carefully designed experiments and good use of statistics
to get the maximum amount of data from the smallest number of animals
 Animal Care: When not being studied, animals must be housed, fed and
watered in a suitable way as well as being given space and companionship
appropriate to their species
 Disposal: When the research is over, animals should be disposed of humanely;
ideally they should be kept alive for breeding or as pets
 Procedures: Animals must be treated humanely during research. The BPS gives
special consideration to these three areas:

1. Caging: Distress should be minimised during caging; social species need

companionship and animals unused to other animals may be distressed if caged
with them
2. Deprivation: Some food deprivation is allowable (and may be normal and
healthy for animals) but distress should be minimised
3. Pain: Anaesthetics should be used to minimise pain; animals should be given
medical treatment after research; humane killing must be considered if suffering
cannot be reduced

THE THREE Rs
The ethics of animal research are sometimes summed up by three principles known as
the 3 Rs.

 Replace the use of animals with different techniques; virtual simulations on

computers or studying videos of past research are recommended.
 Reduce the number of animals used to a minimum; in a well-designed study, the
maximum data can be extracted from the minimal number of animals.
 Refine the way experiments are carried out, to make sure animals suffer as little
as possible. This includes better housing and improvements which minimise pain
and suffering.