Trinity used over 84,000 animals for research in four years

MORE THAN 84,000 animals were used for biomedical research at Trinity College, Dublin, during the past four years. Last year alone, Ireland’s top university spent over €310,000 to procure 6,971 live animals, while a further €8,994 was paid out to dispose of their remains.

Regulations governing the use of animals for scientific purposes permit animal-based research only where there is no alternative experimentation method.

Documents obtained by the Irish Mail on Sunday under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that 84,541 live animals were purchased by Trinity between 2012 and 2015 for use in research.

Last year, the university bought 1,154 rats at a cost of €71,898 – approximately €62 per rat. It also paid €18,868 for 26 rabbits during the same period – averaging €725 per rabbit.

Mice were the most commonly used animal in research at Trinity last year. A total of 5,791 of the small rodents were bought at a cost of €220,722, representing a price of around €38 per mouse.

The 6,971 animals obtained by the university for this purpose last year marks a significant reduction compared to previous years. In 2014, 26,839 animals were procured; while 26,738 and 23,993 were acquired during 2012 and 2013 respectively.

A similar Freedom of Information request to University College Dublin was met with a request for several hundred euro to cover 14 hours of search and retrieval, even though Trinity gathered the information for free.

Trinity stated that the practice of using animals in biomedical research was common to leading universities worldwide.