Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many animals of each species in the service of his Department were euthanised in the last 12 months.

Collation and verification of Military Working Animal (MWA) End of Service data, including information on deaths and euthanasia, is undertaken annually. For the 2021 calendar year 12 dogs and 11 horses were euthanised under veterinary grounds and 1 dog was euthanised for safety reasons. All were carried out by qualified veterinary surgeons.

MWA are only ever euthanised to prevent their unnecessary suffering or because they pose an unacceptable risk. The decision to euthanise is always made by a registered veterinary surgeon, who is required to have taken into consideration each individual animal’s specific health and welfare needs.