Professor John Robertson, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, University of the West of Scotland, to 2016.
The Ferret, at times excellent then at others (author?) with a barely concealed Unionist agenda, is up to it again today with their piece on animal experiments. If you wanted to harm the reputation of the SNP in government, this is a good one for the Union, if the MSM pick it up:
We now have a beautiful, rehomed, ‘failed’ gun dog. My ‘looming’ 5 feet 10 inches and deep male voice took her years to stop fearing. I’m really upset and angry as I write this.
The Ferret know how wrong that image is. They tell us:
Other animals used included 721 beagle dogs and 548 cynomolgus monkeys.
Of course we get ‘and dogs’ five other times.
Dogs (almost entirely beagles) make up a very small share of procedures in Scotland.
From OneKind’s analysis of Home Office data in the Ferret report: 2021–2025 total: 721 beagle dogs used in Scotland out of 1,142,363 procedures, 0.063% of all procedures over those five years.
There is no evidence that Border Collies are used in regulated laboratory experiments (the kind covered by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act statistics) in Scotland or the wider UK.
Laboratory dogs are overwhelmingly purpose-bred beagles (selected for size, temperament, and genetic consistency). Historical Home Office answers have occasionally listed other breeds (Labrador, Jack Russell, Yorkshire Terrier, etc.) used in small numbers for nutrition, dentistry, or physiology studies, but these are rare exceptions. Border Collies do not appear in those lists. Border Collies do appear in scientific literature, but almost always as: Pet or working dogs in non-invasive behavioural/cognitive studies (e.g., intelligence, object-name learning, olfactory performance). Subjects in veterinary genetics research (e.g., inherited eye conditions) using DNA samples from owned dogs, not laboratory procedures.
In short: dogs are used, but the numbers are tiny relative to the total; virtually all are beagles; Border Collies are not part of the regulated laboratory animal testing pipeline.
Back to the Ferret:
Hey there,
Billy here this morning with a story on eye-opening research about the scale of animal testing at labs around Scotland.
One charity has gone as far as to call the findings a “mass campaign of mental and physical torture”, but scientists claim the tests play an important role in treating diseases.
In keeping with our mustelid roots, The Ferret has always kept a keen eye on the treatment of animals across the country.
If animal welfare is important to you and you’d like to see more reporting on it, can you support us by becoming a paid member today?chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://convert-pdf-webpage/?gmailPrintUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2Fu%2F0%2F%3Fview%3Dpt%26search%3Dall%26permthid%3Dthread-f%3A1880000364317776011&acrobatPromotionSource=gmail_chrome-convert_to_pdf_from_email
‘Hey there, Billy here?’ Go away ‘Billy’, just get lost ‘Billy.’ (Not the words I’m really thinking.)
‘If animal welfare is important to you and you’d like to see more reporting on it, can you support us by becoming a paid member today?’
WTF would anyone support you for this?
Do as I do and support the SSPCA. They need it with so many daft Scots taken in by the RSPCA.
The story of Belle, the dog in wheels, free:
Sources:
| Year | Figure | Primary source(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 619,798 animals | UK Parliament written answers (e.g., Norman Baker, 25 July 2014, referencing Home Office ASPA returns): 631,408 procedures and 619,798 animals in Scotland. Also reported in contemporaneous press (e.g., The Scotsman, August 2014). |
| 2015 | 573,000 | • Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2024 (GOV.UK) • Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain: 2023 • Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain: 2022 |
| 2020 | 396,000 | Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain: 2022 (GOV.UK): |
| 2023 | 390,000 | Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain: 2023 (GOV.UK) and cross-referenced in the 2024 report |
| 2024 | 370,000 | Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2024 (GOV.UK): |
| 2025 | 358,864 | The Ferret / OneKind analysis (25 Oct 2026), based on Home Office data and Understanding Animal Research figures: |
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