Tag: PETA

More than fifty MPs, Celebrities and Organisations call for immediate closure Of MBR Acres

  • Last night, a letter signed by dozens of cross-party MPs, celebrities including Dame Joanna Lumley and Amanda Holden, and animal organisations such as Animal Rising and PETA, was sent to the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood MP.
  • The letter calls for an immediate closure of MBR Acres, the only site in the UK breeding dogs for the animal testing industry, alongside the safe rehoming of all the beagles there.
  • This comes after years of campaigning against the site, with more than 170,000 people signing a petition to close it down.
  • MBR Acres is licensed to bleed healthy dogs to death, by directly inserting needles into their heart and surrounding blood vessels, and also to harvest their organs.

In the latest blow for animal testing in the UK, and more specifically the use of beagle dogs, public figures from across politics, television, academia, and more have united to call on the Government to “let Britain lead the world into a future without animal testing” and close the only site in the country breeding dogs for the industry.

Rose Patterson, Animal Rising Director, said: “Dozens of public figures have added their voices to the open letter, and over 170,000 people have signed the petition to shut down MBR Acres. The British public is united on this and expects change at the highest level. 

“We call ourselves a nation of animal lovers, but MBR Acres holds a licence to bleed healthy dogs to death by inserting needles directly into their hearts. Those two things cannot coexist. The Government has a mandate to act, and shutting down MBR Acres is the easiest first step they could take.”

The letter is the latest in a series of escalating campaigns calling on the Government to take genuine steps towards phasing out animal testing in the UK, as per their manifesto pledge in the lead-up to the 2024 General Election. MPs from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, SNP, Green Party, and Your Party have all signed to show their support for the campaign.

Carla Denyer MP, Green Party Member of the House of Commons for Bristol Central, said: “Is this another Labour U-turn? On 22nd December, the government published its Animal Welfare Strategy, which recommitted to ‘phase out animal testing’, but on 11th February, the government redefined ‘Key National Infrastructure’ in the Public Order Act to include animal testing sites. 

“The charitable interpretation is that the government’s left hand doesn’t know what its right hand is doing, or more concerningly, that they are trying to tell the people what they want to hear while quietly acting in the interest of big businesses instead. 

“I hope the government sees that the route to regaining public support involves reversing this decision and closing down MBR Acres for good.”

MBR Acres and their parent company, Marshall BioResources, have been under intense scrutiny for decades. Most notably, in 2015, an Italian facility run by the company, Green Hill, was shut down, and 3,000 dogs were rehomed after undercover footage revealed horrific conditions at the site.

Three senior employees of the company were also jailed. Multiple instances of undercover footage showing the conditions at MBR Acres have also been released since 2021.

Currently, the fourth of five trials relating to two separate rescues of beagle puppies from MBR Acres is ongoing.

The previous three trials have returned one acquittal and two convictions, with sentences ranging from 18-month suspended sentences to conditional discharges.

PETA Disrupts Edinburgh Gucci Store Grand Opening

Campaigners call on brand to ditch cruelly obtained reptile skins

PETA supporters holding signs reading, “Gucci: Ban Wild-Animal Skins,” crashed the grand opening of Gucci’s new Multrees Walk store yesterday to urge the luxury retailer to stop using the skins of tormented snakes and other wildlife in its collections. 

Video footage of the disruption is available here.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1837058263302480044

“Every wild animal-skin accessory, from wallets and bags to belts and watch straps, comes from a terrified animal who was beaten, tortured, and skinned – sometimes while still conscious,” says PETA Vice President Mimi Bekhechi, who is from Edinburgh.

“PETA is calling on Gucci to do right by animals by shedding reptile and other ‘exotic’ skins.”

A recent PETA exposé of python farms in Thailand that supply Gucci’s owner, Kering, revealed workers pinning struggling pythons down by the neck, bashing them on the head with a hammer, punching metal hooks through their heads, and inflating their bodies with water – even as the animals continued to move.

PETA entities have also documented how for the fashion industry, workers hack at crocodiles’ necks and shove a metal rod down their spine, chop off conscious lizards’ heads with machetes, and electrically stun ostriches before slitting their throats in full view of their terrified flockmates.

A growing number of fashion brands have dropped wild-animal skins – including Burberry, Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Mulberry, Victoria Beckham and Vivienne Westwood – and many more are meeting the demand for sustainable animal-friendly products by offering vegan leather options made from a wide range of innovative materials such as mushrooms, apples, corn, and cacti.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.

Brian Cox ‘interviews’ a cat to promote animal adoption, spaying, and neutering

“For the Family You Can Choose. Adopt. Spay. Neuter.”

That’s the message of Succession star Brian Cox‘s new PETA campaign, which sees the head of one of television’s most dysfunctional families share the screen – and a conversation – with an adorable cat from the Mayhew animal shelter named Patches, who has since been adopted into a loving home.

In the accompanying video “interview”, Patches shares with Cox that she’s spayed (“That’s rather personal, but yes”) and wearing her own fur (“I don’t really have much of a choice”) – and he’s quick to assure her that he’s a huge proponent of adoption and a big fan of felines overall. He’s the guardian of two adopted companion cats.

“The thing I love about cats is their independence,” he says. “They can take it or leave it, and that’s their power – that’s their strength. They’re very dependable. They have an instinct about what you need, and sometimes you don’t always know, and then a cat comes, and then you go, oh, thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” says Patches.

 

Brian Cox urges people to do right by cats like Patches by always adopting them from animal shelters and never buying them from breeders or pet shops, which only contribute to the homeless animal overpopulation crisis.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats end up in animal shelters, and many of them have to be euthanised simply because there aren’t enough good homes for them. The solution, as Cox notes, is prevention through spaying and neutering.

Cox joins a long list of celebrities – including Twiggy, Simon Cowell, Sir Paul McCartney, and Joaquin Phoenix – who have teamed up with PETA and its affiliates to promote kindness to animals.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.

Home Office imposes sanctions on Edinburgh lab

The Home Office has formally inspected Charles River Laboratories and sanctioned it for violating animal welfare regulations. The action follows a complaint filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

PETA uncovered shocking allegations regarding the extreme suffering and death of rats at the company’s Elphinstone location, near Edinburgh, after being approached by a whistle-blower who worked there.

Because of the severity of the incidents reported, PETA is urging the Home Office to revoke Charles Rivers Laboratories’ licence to experiment on animals.

According to the whistle-blower, the company reportedly crushed approximately 100 to 120 live rats – including pregnant females – in a rubbish compressor and administered the wrong dose of a compound to rats who were used in a cancer experiment.

It allegedly forced other rats to inhale a highly toxic compound in doses that exceeded the agreed maximum – and consequently, one distressed female chewed off an entire toe. More information about the reported welfare violations can be found here.

“Charles River Laboratories apparently can’t be trusted to follow the minimal laws that protect animals in laboratories, and the punishment should fit the crime,” says PETA Science Policy Adviser Dr Julia Baines.

“PETA is calling for the Home Office to revoke the company’s licence to inflict pain, misery, and death on animals immediately and for money to be invested in a new wave of science – one that’s effective, human-relevant, and animal-free.”

The Home Office confirmed that inspections have taken place and that ‘appropriate sanctions’ have been applied.

Charles River Laboratories responded: “The survival rates for major diseases are at an all-time high due in part to the discovery of new medicines and therapies. The use of animal research models remains a vital component of these discoveries and is required by international regulatory agencies.

“We are deeply committed to animal welfare and exceeding international standards for the care of research models under our stewardship. We are committed to the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) and, when possible, our goal is to reduce the number of animals used.”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – notes that across the UK, millions of animals are locked inside barren laboratory cages, poisoned, burned, cut open, traumatised, and infected with diseases while they suffer from extreme frustration and loneliness.

Few experiments – no matter how painful or irrelevant – are prohibited by law, and almost all animals used in tests are later killed.

PETA supports the use of scientifically and ethically sound methods that better protect humans, animals, and the environment. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.