Written question asked by Lord Beamish (Labour) on Wednesday, 28 June 2023, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 3 July 2023. It was answered by James Cartlidge (Conservative) on Wednesday, 5 July 2023 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Dogs and Horses

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) dogs and (b) horses in service with the Armed Forces have been euthanised in each of the last five years up to 28 June 2023.

Answer

Our working animals provide an invaluable service to our troops, and every effort is made to rehome them at the end of their service life. Decisions are taken by the Military Working Animal rehoming board following an extensive assessment of the animals and any potential new home. Sadly, there are some occasions where it is not possible to rehome an animal safely. Service animals are only euthanised for one of two reasons; either due to a veterinary condition causing unnecessary suffering or because the animal poses an unacceptable risk to public safety.

Collation and verification of Military Working Animal End of Service data, including information on deaths and euthanasia, is undertaken annually. The below table reflects the number of Military Working Dogs (MWDs) and Military Working Horses (MWHs) euthanised in the calendar years 2018 to 2022. All were carried out by qualified veterinary surgeons.

Calendar Year	Reason for Euthanasia
	Veterinary condition causing unnecessary suffering		Unacceptable risk to safety
	MWDs	MWHs	MWDs	MWHs
2018	29	11	10	0
2019	16	10	5	0
2020	18	6	6	0
2021	12	11	1	0
2022	16	9	4	0

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 191523
Session: 2022-23
Subjects: Armed forces Dogs Horses Euthanasia
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

Armed Forces: Dogs and Horses

Secondary information

Librarians' tools