Protests grow over beagle facility

PLANS for a new beagle breeding facility in East Yorkshire have sparked hundreds of objections.

Proposals for a large-scale facility in the village of Grimston on the Holderness coast, which provoked a huge outcry, were rejected by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, following an appeal by the developers last year.

The latest plans, revealed in the Yorkshire Post, has seen “several hundred” objections, lodged with East Riding Council, coming from people locally, nationally and internationally.

People have until October 23 to make a comment.

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The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection is calling on the Government to ban all experiments on dogs and cats in the UK and is asking that no further facilities are granted permission to breed dogs for the sole purpose of supplying to UK laboratories.

The latest statistics report a six per cent increase in experiments on dogs - 3,214 dogs were used in 4,843 tests in 2012.

Yorkshire Evergreen, which is owned by US firm Marshall BioResources, say they have scaled back plans and are only seeking to put up one new building, allowing “local breeding of dogs and ferrets”.

The firm employs 40 people and hopes to recruit another 10.

They claim it is a ‘significant animal welfare gain’ to site the facility at Grimston as it means shipping less animals for long distances. Dogs were bred at the site until 2010.

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In documents submitted as part of its application they accept there are “strongly held moral and ethical objections” to using animals in research, but say experiments - which are not carried out at Grimston - are “legally required and this is expected to continue to be the case for many years to come.”