TY - JOUR
KW - animal dignity
KW - animal housing
KW - animal research
KW - death
KW - ethics
KW - harms
KW - killing
KW - surplus animals
AU - Matthias Eggel
AU - Samuel Camenzind
AU - Paulin Jirkof
AB - In Switzerland, approximately 1.2 million animals are used annually for scientific purposes. This number includes animals directly involved in experiments as well as those excluded due to factors like genotype, sex, or age — socalled “surplus animals”. While ethical debates in animal research have focused largely on the pain and suffering caused by procedures such as surgeries or injections, much less attention has been paid to moral issues raised by surplus animals. These animals are typically housed under standard laboratory conditions and killed when deemed unnecessary. Although the Swiss Animal Welfare Act aims to protect the dignity and welfare of all sentient animals, standard housing conditions and the killing by (legally) accepted methods are not considered a harm.
In this paper, we argue that this oversight leads to an underestimation of the harms involved in animal research. We make three claims:
(i) the death of research animals — whether used in experiments or not — shouldbe recognized as a non-sentientist harm;
(ii) since standard killing methods often cause pain or distress, the killingof (surplus) animals should be considered a sentientist harm; and
(iii) standard housing conditions in researchfacilities frustrate animal interests and potentially negatively impact animal welfare and thus should be reassessed with regards to their potential sentientist and non-sentientist harms. Since surplus animals are affected by various harms, moral and legal consideration should be given to their housing and killing in research.
BT - LEOH - Journal of Animal Law, Ethics and One Health
DA - 2026-01-22
DO - 10.58590/leoh.2026.001
LA - en
N2 - In Switzerland, approximately 1.2 million animals are used annually for scientific purposes. This number includes animals directly involved in experiments as well as those excluded due to factors like genotype, sex, or age — socalled “surplus animals”. While ethical debates in animal research have focused largely on the pain and suffering caused by procedures such as surgeries or injections, much less attention has been paid to moral issues raised by surplus animals. These animals are typically housed under standard laboratory conditions and killed when deemed unnecessary. Although the Swiss Animal Welfare Act aims to protect the dignity and welfare of all sentient animals, standard housing conditions and the killing by (legally) accepted methods are not considered a harm.
In this paper, we argue that this oversight leads to an underestimation of the harms involved in animal research. We make three claims:
(i) the death of research animals — whether used in experiments or not — shouldbe recognized as a non-sentientist harm;
(ii) since standard killing methods often cause pain or distress, the killingof (surplus) animals should be considered a sentientist harm; and
(iii) standard housing conditions in researchfacilities frustrate animal interests and potentially negatively impact animal welfare and thus should be reassessed with regards to their potential sentientist and non-sentientist harms. Since surplus animals are affected by various harms, moral and legal consideration should be given to their housing and killing in research.
PY - 2026
SP - 1
EP - 15
T2 - LEOH - Journal of Animal Law, Ethics and One Health
TI - Reasons to Reduce Surplus Animals in Research (in Switzerland) – Or Why the Killing and Death of Animals and Potentially Standard Husbandry Conditions Should be Classified as Harms
UR - https://leoh.ch/article/view/9346
Y2 - 2026-01-22
SN - 2813-7434
ER -