Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 experiments licensed under the 1986 Act. The 1986 Act defined "regulated procedures" as animal experiments that could potentially cause "pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm", to "protected animals", which encompassed all living vertebrates other than humans, under the responsibility of humans. A 1993 amendment added a single invertebrate species, the common octopus ("Octopus vulgaris"), as a protected animal. The Act applied only to protected animals from halfway through their gestation or incubation periods (for mammals, birds and reptiles) or from when they became capable of independent feeding (for fish, amphibians and, the common octopuses). Primates, cats, dogs and horses had
Eurogroup for Animals of Animals, which meets at the European Parliament in Strasbourg once a month. Eurogroup for Animals also works closely together with retailers to encourage them to adopt higher standards of animal welfare. In addition they campaign to improve the situation of farm animals, research animals, and wild animals. In 2008, the group led a campaign to prevent cloning for food being approved in the European Union British animal welfare organisation RSPCA took the initiative to set up Eurogroup for Animals after noticing more and more legislation relating to animals was being decided at a European level. Thus in 1980 Eurogroup