Gates of Hell: “The first thing they do when the puppies arrive, is cut their vocal cords”
Currently up to 2000 Beagle dogs are being bred yearly in the UK, bred indoors where they never see the light of day. Camp Beagle are calling on Mancunians to come and be a voice for the voiceless…
Mancunians could not help but to stop and listen, as Camp beagle Protestors chanted from the Wellington Statue in Manchester city centre regarding the MBR beagles. ‘It’s not science, its violence’ and ‘if animals could speak, mankind would weep’ were just a couple of the phrases that were painted on banners and signs for the people of Manchester to observe.
Camp Beagle is an on-going animal rights campaign in the UK, members of Camp Beagle have set up a permanent protest camp outside of MBR Acres in Huntingdon which earned the campaign the name; ‘Camp Beagle’. Camping for more than 100 days, Camp Beagle were granted permission for their camp to stay permanently by a High Court judge, they plan to stay through the winter in solidarity with the MBR Beagles.
“One of my friends is currently at Camp Beagle, down at MBR Acres, she has been camping there with for a while now with others and they plan to stay there over Christmas.” Explains animal activist Claire Dickinson who is actively involved in the campaign in Manchester.
Claire is a Manchester local and has been an active animal activist around Manchester for several years, participating in campaigns for all animals who are subject to cruel and unnecessary treatment.
MBR Acres is a beagle breeding facility that raises puppies until they are 16 weeks old, they are then sent off to labatories around the UK for toxicology test where they undergo vivisection. Vivisection is ‘the practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation and research’.
“These poor beagles are born in this horrible place, at 8 weeks old they are taken from their mum. They are put through training that teaches them to put their paw out of the cage so they can be injected with drugs and chemicals. They are taught to put a mask on by their selves for when the labs using the beagles need them to inhale chemicals.”
Beagle dog breeds are specifically used in testing because they are a trusting and forgiving dog breed. Beagles are said to trust their abusers because they have people-pleasing personalities, sadly, this makes them the perfect test subject — it is a twisted abuse of trust.
“The first thing they do when the puppies arrive is cut their vocal cords, this is so that they can’t bark, the puppies are not given any pain relief; they never see daylight and can undergo experiments that last up to 60 days at a time where they are force fed chemicals, they are usually dead by 6 months”.
The number of pet dogs in the UK has almost doubled from 2019 to 2021, with more than 12.5 million people owning their own dog in 2021. Most families view their pet dogs as part of the family, they earned their title ‘man’s best friend’ for being loving and loyal companions.
Dogs provide excellent service, they support our police and fire services, guide the blind and service people who live with disabilities, helping them perform daily task. Would many believe that here in the UK we have professional breeding grounds where puppies are forced to endure terrible horrifying before being sent to their death? We live in a time where “cruelty free” labels are becoming more common on our products and consumers praise them; But how far have we come with animal testing?
Claire continued: “We all know that animals have been tested on forever, but there is now an animal free research foundation that actually test on AI, Artificial intelligence, skin cells and things like that. They get better results than testing on dogs, rats, and other animals. There are better alternatives out there”
According to data from PETA, it reveals that animal testing is a waste of both animal and human lives. 95% of all drugs that are perceived to be safe for humans in animal test, fail in the human trials because they either do not work or are dangerous for humans.
British actors Ricky Gervais and Peter Egan have both shown their support for Camp Beagle through social media calling for MBR Acres to be shut down. Peter Egan has appeared at one of the rallies and praised the protestors of Camp Beagle.
“We now have treatment for a host of diseases, that if we had believed the animal model, we would not have” Dr Ray Greek spoke with Ricky Gervais on animal testing, as more and more people call for the government to put a stop to the unnecessary suffering of animals.
Mancunians have come together to help ‘man’s best friend’ prior to Camp Beagle. In 2014 Manchester dogs’ home located in Harpurhey, was set on fire, sadly killing 60 dogs, and tearing through the building. Within 24hrs since the fire was set, £1.4 million pound had already been raised through the ‘Just giving’ page set up by Manchester evening news.
Camp Beagle are planning on hosting weekly or fortnightly demonstrations in Manchester centre over the next upcoming weeks, they will continue collecting signatures from the citizens of Manchester to show their support in shutting down MBR Acres. Hoping to ban all animal testing and convince the government to consider the other alternatives that are available with modern technology.
Camp Beagle are asking kindly for donations through the winter, anything from water to tinned food and blankets.
