Background
BUAV investigators have travelled to a number of European countries to investigate the conditions in which laboratory animals are kept and to see how effectively European legislation is being implemented. We have exposed a number of major breaches in legislation, in particular inadequate housing conditions and the use of stray cats and dogs for research.
In Portugal in 1994, the BUAV was able to infiltrate a number of laboratories and film dogs supplied from local dog pounds. The BUAV was able to rescue one such dog, subsequently named Molly, destined for research. Molly was brought to the UK to happily live out the rest of her life in freedom until her sad passing in 2002.
As a result of our investigation and a subsequent legal complaint to the European Commission, formal legal proceedings were initiated against Portugal for failure to correctly implement Directive 86/609/EEC, prohibiting the use of stray dogs in experiments.
In Poland, BUAV investigators uncovered appalling evidence of laboratory animal suffering. BUAV investigators travelled to Poland in 1995, shortly after it had applied to join the European Union. The conditions for laboratory animals we discovered there were some of the worst ever seen by the BUAV. According to the researchers, the cats and dogs used in the experiments our investigator witnessed had been collected from the streets and supplied to the laboratories by animal dealers. Using stray animals and ex-pets was apparently commonplace in Poland.
More recently, the BUAV obtained evidence that Belgium was breaching European legislation by allowing the widespread use of stray cats and dogs for research. Cats and dogs were filmed in a number of Belgian laboratories, some of whom were being kept in appalling conditions. A legal complaint submitted by the BUAV to the European Commission resulted in the initiation of formal legal proceedings against Belgium for the failure to comply with Directive 86/609/EEC.
