Background
Huntingdon Research Centre (now Huntingdon Life Sciences) is Europe's largest contract testing laboratory carrying out toxicity tests on animals. The BUAV infiltrated its animal laboratories in 1989 when Sarah Kite worked for eight months undercover in both the rodent and the dog toxicology units.
Sarah painstakingly collected evidence of the suffering and poor conditions endured by the animals, and the uncaring attitudes of the staff. Her work provided the first real insight into conditions inside a 'modern' British laboratory, and indeed the first damning insight into the actual workings of the government's much heralded Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.Find out more about the type of tests conducted at the Huntingdon Research Centre.
The Outcome
The BUAV investigation broke to the public on 29th Nov 1989 with a front page exclusive in the Today newspaper entitled 'Inside Britain's Beagle Labs' with full colour pictures plus a four-page special report. Predictably, Huntingdon Research Centre (HRC) refused to answer any questions from the press or public. The BUAV called for a full Home Office Inquiry.
Parliamentary Questions tabled revealed that in 1988 1,900 procedures had been carried out on dogs at the company. In 1989 HRC had been visited no less than 11 times by Home Office Inspectors who had reported, quite remarkably that "the conditions in which the animals were being kept were found to be generally satisfactory". Indeed, after our investigation the then Home Office Minister Peter Lloyd replied to public queries by writing "In many ways, it [HRC] would serve as an excellent example to others".
It later came as a severe blow, but no real surprise, when the Home Office finally resolved its Inquiry without any serious consequences for HRC whatsoever.
Seven years later, Sarah Kite was involved in another exposé of the research facility, now called Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), this time with Channel 4. Read more about the resulting programme It's a Dog's Life.
