New Research Shows British Public Increasingly Opposed to Animal Use, with Support for Greyhound Racing Particularly Falling Since New Laws 

New data from The Vegan Society's biannual nationally representative poll of 2000 adults suggests that public attitudes towards animal use are changing on a wide range of issues in scientific research, sport and entertainment, from horse racing to animal testing and using guns to shoot deer.  

The polling, which was last carried out in 2024, offers a unique insight into real public sentiment in our 'nation of animal lovers'. The data shows that overall, the public expressed more opposition to most kinds of animal use by 1.3 percentage points on average, suggesting that opinions are heading in a positive direction. For some individual issues this change in attitude was more marked:  

KEY FINDINGS 

• 60% of people now find greyhound racing unacceptable, up from 55% in 2024 (likely related to recent laws to ban racing in Scotland and Wales) 

• 87% of people find testing cosmetics on animals unacceptable, up from 84% in 2024. (The UK Government last year set out plans for a faster phase-out of animal testing in science.) 

• 71% of people find testing medicines on animals unacceptable (despite it being mandatory under UK law), up from 68% in 2024 

• 77% of people find using guns to hunt deer unacceptable, up from 74% in 2024 

Some issues prove more polarising than others. 50% of people believe that riding an elephant is either somewhat or completely unacceptable, while 49% feel the same about horse racing and 48% for catching fish for sport. 

The 2026 Empathy Index included one new question, which was not asked in 2024, with 65% of respondents answering that they found factoring farming unacceptable. 

QUOTE FROM ALEXANDER HUNTLEY, RESEARCH AND IMPACT MANAGER AT THE VEGAN SOCIETY 

"We created the Empathy Index to track public attitudes to animal uses over time and it's encouraging to see that these are going in the right direction. Brits are indeed a nation of animal lovers. The Index highlights how views can change regarding animal cruelty, as well as revealing some areas where views can be contradictory: most people love animals and don't want to hurt them, but most people continue to eat animals and use their milk and skins. 

We want to challenge the idea that animals exist to satisfy the needs and wants of humans. Many of these forms of animal use are possible to avoid and vegans will do this as far as possible: not riding horses, using animals for entertainment or wearing their coats. We hope that our research both helps advocates encourage a shift towards greater compassion and people to consider choosing to be vegan and live in harmony with nature, our fellow animals and their values."