With the country celebrating the success of the GB equestrian team in the Olympic Games in winning the Silver Medal, the RSPCA has reported a "fantastic response" to its appeal for people to come forward and foster young horses and ponies.
Launched on 14 May, the aim of the Stable Future appeal was to find foster carers for young horses and ponies that had suffered neglect and cruelty until such time as they were ready to go to permanent new homes. Many of the 270 young ponies in the care of the RSPCA have found foster carers and at least 13 horses have already gone to their new homes.
Statistics on the use of animals in scientific research in Great Britain have been published by the Home Office. The document, Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals 2011, was compiled from returns provided by 100% of project licence holders and published on 10 July. The figures show that just over 3.79 million scientific procedures were started in Great Britain in 2011, an increase of 2% on 2010. The breeding of genetically modified animals and harmful mutants – mainly mice – remained stable, accounting for 1.62 million procedures.
The number of confirmed cases of Schmallenberg Virus (SBV) continues to grow in Europe and the UK.
The shooting of thousands of badgers will go ahead next year but not until after the Olympics to prevent police resources being overstretched by the £4? million security operation required for the cull.
The European Parliament has backed the phasing out of antibiotics on farm animals for disease prevention in order to ensure such treatments remain effective for humans. Some farmers are already using alternative treatments such as homeopathy to prevent the spread of disease among their flocks.