Hundreds of animals have been killed as a result of laboratory testing at the University of Kent, which has been branded cruel and outdated by an animal rights charity.

The university has used animals including rabbits, toads, goldfish, mice and rats – all of which have been “humanely killed” when the experiments are finished.

In the past three years alone, staff at the Faculty of Sciences on the Canterbury campus have experimented on and killed 258 mice.

The details were released in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The studies involve “monitoring behavioural running wheel rhythms and assessing alterations in these patterns to given stimuli, including both behavioural and pharmacological strategies”.

Staff continue to use mice in their research, but none is currently being kept on any of its sites.

The university said it sometimes needs to use animals as part of its research, “where no alternatives are available”.

But Animal Aid campaigner Claudia Tarry said the experiments caused unnecessary suffering, because many of the therapies that work on mice failed when administered to human patients.

She said: “Researchers must abandon archaic animal tests and adopt progressive, human-based science instead, for the benefit of people and animals.”

She referred to figures released by the Home Office, which reveal that the number of experiments on animals is rising – despite a post-election pledge by the coalition government to reduce it.

A Freedom of Information request was also submitted to Canterbury Christ Church University, which confirmed it does not carry out live animal testing.