2 Beagle puppies, affectionately named ‘Love’ and ‘Libby’, have been returned to MBR Acres by Cambridgeshire police after they were seized on Tuesday morning as Animal Rebellion rescued a further 18 dogs from the facility. This has caused outrage as it is widely believed the dogs will be euthanised or sent for painful testing and an early death.

Peterborough Police Station (01480 456111) has reportedly been jammed with thousands of calls since Tuesday morning, when the puppies were taken. A demonstration of 60+ people blocked roads into and out of the police HQ on Thursday as they sought to negotiate the safe handing over of the puppies. New homes for both Love and Libby had been arranged. Others are making complaints to IOPC about the puppies being returned to MBR by Cambridgeshire Police, where they will either be declared ‘contaminated property’ and destroyed, or they will face six months of painful tests before being killed anyway.

An open letter and a petition call for the release of the two puppies.

Love and Libby were seized after 12 individuals gained access to MBR Acres on Tuesday morning. During the rescue, 18 beagle puppies were helped to freedom in the largest ever open animal rescue in the UK, but two more, Love and Libby didn’t make it. A video taken outside the front gates showed the 2 puppies wagging their tails in the back of a police car.

A vet for Animal Rebellion, Dr Alice Brough, has stated that the video footage taken during the rescue appears to show the MBR Acres facility could be in breach of a number of regulations.

The police statement read: “The Home Office and its Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU), which administers and enforces the 1986 Act, supported the return of the dogs for their wellbeing. It was based on this that they were returned.”

Dr Alice Brough, Director of the Progressive Veterinary Association said:

“The fact that the police are citing the dogs’ wellbeing as a reason to return them to a facility appearing to be in breach of welfare regulations, and knowing the unimaginable pain and suffering they will face in a laboratory, is frankly horrifying. Police have the right to remove animals in distress and apply for re-homing, and they chose not to. Of course the Home Office supported their return. They don’t see anything wrong with needlessly torturing animals by the thousands, and grant licences to that effect.”

Sign the petition calling for a Royal Commission into the scientific efficacy of animal experimentation: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/631432