Proposed Rules Open Doors to More Wild Animal Capture, Experiments on Community Dogs and Cats and Severe Suffering – Even as India and the World Move Towards Non-Animal Science
Wild animals taken from their natural habitats, community dogs and stray cats potentially used in laboratory experiments, and animals subjected to electric shocks, induced tumours, and other severe suffering: these are among the alarming possibilities raised by India's proposed animal experimentation Rules.
PETA India is warning that key provisions of the draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Control and Supervision of Experiment, Breeding and Trading of Laboratory Animals) Rules, 2026, could significantly weaken existing animal protections at a time when India and other countries are accelerating the transition towards advanced, non-animal science.
PETA India is publicly calling for the withdrawal of these draft Rules, and you can help by submitting your objections, too.
How Could These Rules Put Animals at Risk?
PETA India warns that the proposed Rules could expose animals to greater suffering in laboratories by:
- Opening doors to increased capture of wild animals for experiments: The draft Rules permit the capture and use of wild animals in experiments, including endangered species, protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, subject to vague ‘scientific justification’.
- Putting community dogs and stray cats at risk: The draft Rules permit experiments on stray animals, under specified circumstances.
- Accommodating experiments involving severe pain and distress: The draft Rules allow for experiments as severe as inescapable electric shocks, prolonged isolation of social animals such as dogs and monkeys, certain tumour-inducing experiments, and toxicity tests in which death is an endpoint. Although the draft prohibits prolonged severe suffering that cannot be alleviated, it nevertheless continues to accommodate experiments involving severe suffering.
- Weakening independent oversight and existing animal welfare protections: The draft Rules allow the respective institutional ethics committees of experimenters to approve experiments classified as mild or moderate, unlike the current requirement of all experiments on larger animals, including dogs, horses, pigs, and cattle, to be approved by the central Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA). Smaller animals including rabbits could undergo even severe or non-recovery experiments without CCSEA review.
- Allowing experiments on animals for the purpose of training: The draft Rule authorizes the use of animals for purposes of training and education, including vocational skill development. This stands in contrast to Section 17(2)(f) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, which expressly discourages such use by stipulating that, as far as possible, experiments shall not be conducted merely for the acquisition of manual skills.
The draft also contains troubling exceptions and ambiguities concerning experiments on non-human primates, including rhesus macaques, who lost their former Schedule II protection under the Wildlife (Protection) Act following its 2022 amendment.
India Must Move Forward, Not Backwards
India has already demonstrated leadership in moving away from tests on animals. For example, by amending the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 to expressly recognise human-relevant non-animal approaches such as cell-based assays, organs-on-chips, computer modelling, and other human-biology-based testing methods.
The US Food and Drug Administration, the US National Institutes of Health, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the European Commission and the UK government have all taken steps towards the increased use of non-animal methods in various ways.
Against this backdrop, India’s new Rules should build on this progress by strengthening the use of scientifically advanced non-animal approaches and animal-welfare protections, rather than weakening existing safeguards or creating new avenues for animal experimentation.
PETA India calls for the withdrawal of the proposed Rules and urges stronger regulations that protect animals, preserves independent oversight and existing safeguards, and prioritise scientifically sound non-animal methods. PETA India calls for the withdrawal of the proposed rules and urges stronger regulations that protect wildlife and community animals, preserve independent oversight and existing safeguards, and prioritises scientifically sound non-animal methods.
Take Action: Help Stop These Dangerous Draft Rules!
Wild animals, community dogs, cats, rabbits, and countless other animals need your help!
Objections and suggestions are being invited on the proposed Rules. Please take a moment to speak up for animals by submitting your objections and urging that these draft Rules be withdrawn.
Please submit your objections and suggestions by 30 October 2026.