Rock star joins beagle farm protest

The guitarist and wildlife campaigner, who founded a group called Save-Me to promote animal welfare, has urged Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to reject an appeal by American-owned B&K Universal. It followed a refusal of planning permission by East Riding Council last year to redevelop its facilities in Grimston

Dr May said: “Beagles, indisputably, are highly intelligent sentient creatures, friends of man for centuries.

“It is completely morally unjustifiable for these animals to be made to suffer in the name of science, and I am shocked to learn of plans to set up a facility in Yorkshire to breed and supply beagles to the research industry.”

A decision on the appeal is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

The most recent available figures from the Home Office show in 2010, 5,695 “procedures” were carried out on 3,704 beagles. Beagles are largely used in toxicity testing for human and veterinary drugs, as well as agrochemicals.