Tens of Thousands Call on Government to Strengthen Plan to End Animal Experiments
Tens of thousands of PETA supporters are taking their call for stronger action to end experiments on animals directly to the heart of Government.
Today, PETA delivered an open letter signed by over 30,000 people to 10 Downing Street urging the government to strengthen the implementation of its Replacing Animals in Science Strategy and ensure that its promises translate into meaningful change for animals confined in laboratories across the UK.
The Government’s Strategy is a welcome start, but it is only the beginning. It needs clear mechanisms, accountability and the right expertise at the table to deliver real change for animals.
That’s why PETA and its supporters have called on the Government to strengthen the implementation of its Strategy in several ways, such as by involving animal protection organisations, including PETA, in delivering the targets of its Strategy.
Alongside the letter, PETA delivered a giant origami monkey covered in signatures illustrating public support. The striking display symbolised public support for ending experiments on animals once and for all, and replacing them with modern, human-relevant research methods which better serve humans and animals.
Public Support for Real Change
The UK’s Replacing Animals in Science Strategy, launched in November 2025, committed to phasing out experiments on animals across regulatory toxicity testing as well as biomedical, discovery research. Government statistics published in July this year revealed that more than 2.5 million procedures were conducted on animals in Great Britain in 2025.
Behind the statistics in laboratories across the UK are individual animals who can be intensively bred, confined to barren cages, cut open, poisoned, traumatised, paralysed and deliberately infected with deadly diseases. When experiments end, the animals are typically killed. Animals are sentient individuals capable of experiencing pain, fear and stress, with their own interests and natural behaviours. For animals trapped in UK laboratories, turning the Government’s Strategy into action could mean the difference between continuing to endure confinement, painful experimentation, followed by death, and never being used in them at all.
Five Steps the Government Must Take
PETA welcomed the Government’s commitment to work towards ending experiments on animals, and we set out five things the Government should do to bring about the change for animals more rapidly, including:
- Give animal protection organisations a seat at the table, including representation on the Alternative Methods Committee, so organisations whose purpose includes representing animals’ interests have a formal role in delivery.
- Broaden the priority areas for replacement, including disease models such as sepsis and discovery research, drawing on PETA’s Research Modernisation Deal and the areas it identifies for ending, dramatically reducing or prioritising animal use for replacement.
- Turn ambition into accountable action, with transparent processes for deciding which animal tests should be replaced and when, clarity about how their use will actually be eliminated, and monitoring and consequences where targets are missed.
- Require research institutions to produce their own phase-out plans, backed by measurable milestones and timelines that make progress visible.
- Tackle the culture that sustains animal use, making cultural change and change management part of implementation rather than treating transition as a purely technical challenge.
Scientists from PETA entities have worked for many years around the world on advancing non-animal approaches across toxicology, biomedical research and drug development, including engagement with regulators and industry. The UK Government must include the expertise of PETA’s science and policy experts to make the UK Strategy a success. In July 2026, the Government’s own advisory body, the Animals in Science Committee recommended that animal protection organisations are included in the Strategy’s Alternative Methods Expert Committee.
Now is the time to ensure that the ambition of the UK Strategy is realised and that implementation is effective, transparent and accountable.
Take Action
On 11 November, one year on from the publication of the Government’s Replacing Animals in Science Strategy, PETA will host a Parliamentary Reception focused on holding the Government to account on its promise. Please ask your MP to attend and help drive forward the transition towards modern, animal-free research.
Together, we can help ensure that the UK’s commitment to end experiments on animals becomes a reality for the millions who still suffer in laboratories every year.
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