Eighteen dogs have been broken out of kennels at a breeding and test facility by an animal welfare campaign group.
The 12 members of Animal Rebellion who broke into MBR Acres in Cambridgeshire remained at the scene to face police and "accept responsibility for the rescue" of the 18 beagle puppies.
The group is negotiating the release of two additional Beagles that were seized by Cambridgeshire Police while being taken off-site. Animal Rebellion hopes they will be permitted to be homed to a sanctuary.
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The news comes as it was revealed animal testing in Northern Ireland rose 29% in 2021 compared to the previous year with 62% of experiments causing severe or moderate suffering. Figures released by the Department of Health, which oversees the practice, show 61 Beagles and 221 pigs were among the animals used in the 29,221 tests registered last year.
According to the legislation, examples of severe suffering include surgery expected to result in severe post-operative pain, inescapable electric shock and inducing toxicity to the point of death. The most harmful tests were carried out on mice, rats, pigs, fish and birds.
In a statement on Thursday, December 22, the Beagle protest group said they would not stop their campaign to put "animal testing on trial", saying they want a jury to decide of they "See a burglar or a dog rescuer".
Spokesperson for Animal Rebellion, Rose Patterson, said: "We will keep rescuing dogs from this breeding facility, openly and with our faces on camera, because it is the right thing to do.
"Animal testing is unnecessary, with more effective animal-free alternatives available like stem cells and organ-on-chip. We are challenging MBR and the police to charge us so we can place this issue in front of a jury and put animal testing on trial."
The animal rescuers videoed their entry and exit from the facility and could be seen wearing T-shirts that read “Put Animal Testing On Trial” and “What Would You Do If This Was Your Dog?”.
It is understood the facility breeds around 2,000 beagles each year destined for animal testing in the UK and abroad and have been the subject of campaigning and protests by Animal Rebellion and other animal welfare groups. A number of celebrities have now called for the release of Love and Libby, two beagles captured and held by police during the rescue yesterday, including Ricky Gervais, as petition reaches 18,000 signatures.
A spokesperson for the group said: "At around 05:30, Tuesday 20th December, 12 supporters of Animal Rebellion entered an animal testing breeding facility and freed 18 beagles in the largest ever open animal rescue in the UK. They remained on-site to accept responsibility for the action, risking a maximum sentence of 10-years if charged with burglary."
One of the rescuers, Louisa Hillwood, 28, a physiotherapist, said: "Putting animal testing on trial is acknowledging that nonhuman animals feel pain just as we do; it is recognising that they deserve love and care just as all of us do. I want 12 ordinary people to have the opportunity to consign animal testing to the dark pages of history books.
“I grew up alongside an animal, and when I imagine him being used like this I feel sick. If the beautiful animals used for testing were your companions, what would you do?"
Cambridgeshire Constabulary arrested three people at the scene and two of the dogs, named ‘Love’ and ‘Liberty’ by the group, were seized by police. The group are asking for the police to release the dogs to a sanctuary as they are considered ‘contaminated’ and no longer able to be used in testing.
The site, MBR Acres, is licensed for breeding around Beagles for animal testing and the company also holds ‘bleeding licences’ which allow them to harvest blood and organs.
A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: "We were called at just before 6am to reports of a break-in at MBR Acres in Sawtry Way, Wyton, and the presence of a group of protestors at the front gates of the site.
“Officers attended the scene and three people have been arrested on suspicious of burglary and taken to Thorpe Wood Police Station. They are a 29-year-old man from Sheffield, a 23-year-old man from York, and a 33-year-old woman, of no known address.
“Police remain at the scene and are working to remove protestors who are on MBR Acres property. Our aim is to ensure staff at the site are able to go about their lawful work, while protestors are able to express their views peacefully and safely, within the law.”
Dr Lindsay Marshall, biomedical science advisor to the Humane Society International UK recently stated “The UK cannot expect to have world-leading science innovation whilst we rely on failing animal-based research methods that are rooted in the past.”
She says Reliable alternatives to animal testing include testing on lab-grown stem cells or ‘organs-on-a-chip’.
In 2021, 3.06 million instances of animal testing were recorded in the UK, a 6% increase on last year. Of these, 4,016 were carried out on Beagles.
MBR Acres were contacted for comment.
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