Secret Military Tests in Britain Poisoned or Blew Up Nearly 10,000 Animals Last Year

Defense ministry in Britain revealed that almost 10,000 animals, including rabbits, monkeys and pigs, were killed either by being blown up or through anthrax poisoning during secret military tests at a research base last year.

These animals were used in top-secret tests at the Porton Down military research base in Wiltshire, a ceremonial county, last year, Daily Mail reported Wednesday. The number of animals, used for military experiments, has risen by over 1,000 in the last three years.

The figures were revealed by the country's junior defence minister Philip Dunne in response to Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock who raised concerns about the facility in parliament last month.

The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, an organisation campaigning to end all animal experiments, highlighted "disturbing and cruel" experiments.

These tests include live pigs being blasted with explosives and forced to inhale mustard gas, monkeys being infected with anthrax and guinea pigs being killed with nerve agent. And the number of procedures being carried out is on the up.

Listing the number of animal procedures undertaken at Porton Down Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in last three years, minister Dunne said the figure had risen from 8,452 in 2009 to 9,582 in 2010 and 9,882 last year.

Hancock expressed his shock at the statistics which, until now, were never made public generally.

"I was shocked to learn that almost 10,000 animal experiments are taking place at Porton Down every year, including ones inflicting substantial levels of suffering.

Source: IANS