Animal campaigners have been protesting outside AstraZeneca for the release of 300 beagles which they claim have been recently delivered to Alderley Park for testing.
The dogs were apparently flown over from Sweden a couple of weeks ago following the closure of AstraZeneca's dog breeding facility there.
Over 100 people and 25 dogs gathered at the entrance to Alderley Park on Saturday, 9th March, to demand that the dogs are released for rehoming.
The event was organised by a newly formed local group called Cease Animal Research Experiments and national group Brown Dog, following a smaller protest on March 1st organised by Manchester Animal Action.
Evelyn Potts, Campaigns Director at Brown Dog, said "We are calling on AstraZeneca to release the 300 'surplus' beagles currently imprisoned at their facility to loving homes."
Evelyn continued "Those who could not attend the protest, photographed themselves with a message for AstraZeneca. These were printed off and hand delivered to AstraZeneca on the demo and three hundreds flowers lined the entrance to represent every dog.
"We have another protest planned for 20th April, and we hope that 300 people will attend so that a person is there to represent every beagle in the facility and act as their voice. There are also confirmed protests in Brazil and Sweden to coincide as well as a demonstration at their global HQ in London."
Brown Dog are also calling on the Government to investigate the shipment of beagles to the UK from Sweden because they claim the vehicles transporting the dogs were meant to, by law, display signage that says they are carrying live animals and the law was broken in both countries.
AstraZeneca has not responded to my request for a comment.
