The 12 rescuers issued a statement this morning after being released from custody without charges.
In the early hours of Tuesday 20th December, 18 beagles were freed from Cambridgeshire animal testing breeding facility, MBR Acres.
The 12 rescuers who remained at the scene to take responsibility for the action have now been released from police custody without charges.
The group responsible for the rescue, Animal Rebellion, issued a statement this morning promising to return to MBR Acres to ‘free all the dogs’.
Animal Rebellion say they hope to be charged so they can put ‘animal testing on trial’, and that a jury finding them not guilty of any wrongdoing will send a clear message that testing on beagles and other animals cannot continue.
A number of celebrities have called for the release of Love and Libby, two beagles captured and held by police during the rescue yesterday, including Ricky Gervais, as petition reaches 18,000 signatures.
Twelve dog rescuers from Animal Rebellion, who handed themselves in to police after gaining entry to the animal testing breeding facility MBR Acres and rescuing eighteen beagle puppies [1], have been released without charges.
In a statement released this morning, the rescuers reiterated their intention to put "animal testing on trial", saying they want a jury to "decide if you see a burglar or a dog rescuer?"
Rescuer and spokesperson for Animal Rebellion, Rose Patterson, states
“We will keep rescuing dogs from this breeding facility, openly and with our faces on camera, because it is the right thing to do. Animal testing is unnecessary, with more effective animal-free alternatives available like stem cells and organ-on-chip. We are challenging MBR and the police to charge us so we can place this issue in front of a jury and put animal testing on trial."
Rose added:
“The public are on our side, they want dogs to be free. Today, Animal Rebellion pledge to return to MBR’s facility and rescue all the dogs.”
Yesterday, 18 dogs were freed from MBR Acres, but two more were captured and held by police, named Love and Libby by the public.
18,000 people have signed a petition [2] calling for their release, with additional public support from Ricky Gervais, Peter Egan, Megan McCubbin (BBC Springwatch) and Emmerdale actors Charley Webb and Roxy Shahidi [3].
Beagle Freedom Project UK are negotiating the release of the dogs and in a press release they stated they “are at the ready to take these dogs into their expert care with incredible and loving homes waiting”. [4]
In June, 3 Animal Rebellion volunteers previously rescued 5 dogs from the same facility and handed themselves in to face trial. They were charged with burglary, but charges were dropped within two weeks [5].
ENDS
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