Are you leaving a legacy of suffering?

Animal Aid has long campaigned against vivisection and the involvement of medical research charities in this shocking practice. We are pleased to announce the launch of our new campaign, Don’t leave a legacy of suffering. Our aim is to educate the public about how money left to certain medical research charities may be used to fund animal research. We are asking the public, when considering writing their will, not to include such charities. Please visit our campaign page to find out more, sign the pledge to commit to supporting... Continued

A time to remember: World Day for Animals in Laboratories

World Day for Animals in Laboratories is marked on the 24th April each year. Established in 1979, this is a day when people around the globe gather to remember those animals who have suffered and died in laboratories, and those who still languish there. The animal species who are tormented and killed each year is endless – including sheep, horses, dogs, monkeys, salamanders, hedgehogs, pigs, rats, mice, fish ... They suffer, variously, from dosing with toxic chemicals, surgical mutilation, infection with lethal viruses,... Continued

Major charity stops funding animal experiments

In a move that is likely to have a significant impact on the health charities sector, Age UK has announced that it will no longer be funding animal experiments. Its final grants for animal research have already been given out, and the last few projects involving animals are due to finish by 31 December 2015. Animal Aid has been campaigning for several years, through its Victims of Charity initiative, to end the funding of animal experiments by medical research charities. The initiative has involved exposing grotesque... Continued

Innovative app lets public choose cruelty-free medical charities

Animal Aid has today launched an innovative phone app that allows people to check whether medical research charities fund experiments on animals. The Cruelty-Free Giving app – which is free to download – features a searchable database of medical charities and their policies, and includes nearly 290 organisations. The app initiative forms part of Animal Aid’s Victims of Charity campaign, which aims to end the funding of vivisection by medical research charities. Our Victims of Charity website regularly exposes shocking... Continued

Please speak out against charities being forced to support vivisection

Animal Aid has today launched a petition calling on the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) to overturn a new requirement that all its members must publicly declare support for vivisection on their websites. We are also asking AMRC to hold a genuine debate about the scientific validity of experiments on animals. Sign the petition We first exposed this ‘pro-vivisection pledge’ requirement in November 2014, shortly before the new rule came into force. This generated national media coverage and, we are told, a... Continued

Please help step up the pressure on the BHF

The British Heart Foundation is now facing a tide of public opposition over its funding of vivisection. It has received thousands of complaints from members of the public, who have been appalled by what was revealed in our exposés, and it has been the subject of major articles in the media. The charity has also been targeted with effective live actions, including leafleting inside the champagne reception of its high-profile celebrity ball last month. This week, we are stepping up the pressure with the release of an eye-catching... Continued

Medical charities briefed on why animal research can’t be trusted

Animal Aid has this week published a detailed new Briefing – written especially for members of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) – making the scientific case against the use of animals in biomedical research. A copy has been provided to all 136 of its members, and will now be sent to hundreds of other research charities that are not AMRC affiliates. Publication of the new booklet follows the discovery by Animal Aid that, since November 20 last year, every current or prospective AMRC member (see Notes) has... Continued

Animal Aid campaigners take anti-vivisection message to celebrity ball

Yesterday, campaigners from Animal Aid staged a dynamic presence at the British Heart Foundation’s celebrity ball, and called on the organisation to stop funding experiments on animals. Activists distributed leaflets inside the event itself, which was attended by celebrities including Pippa Middleton and the Saturdays singer Mollie King, and held an eye-catching photocall outside. Inside the champagne reception at the exclusive Park Lane Hotel, campaigners handed out leaflets that explained why the BHF’s funding of animal... Continued

Animal Aid’s response to the British Heart Foundation

In just over two weeks since we released our latest exposé, more than 3,000 people have already contacted the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to complain about their funding of cruel oxygen deprivation experiments on rats. The BHF has now sent a standard reply to people who have taken action, and we would like to address some of the points it makes: 1.We are puzzled by the BHF’s statement that the research ‘was not designed to understand how to prevent heart damage in patients with cardiovascular disease, though the results... Continued

BHF faces tide of public opposition over cruel rat experiment

In just a week since we exposed a cruel oxygen deprivation experiment on rats that had been co-funded by the BHF, the charity has received more than 1,800 complaints, and our exposé has been featured in the Cambridge News. The research, which was conducted at Cambridge University, involved rats being confined in ‘hypoxia chambers’ for two weeks, where they were forced to breathe air that had a low concentration of oxygen. The research was investigating whether eating vegetables rich in nitrates, (such as kale and spinach)... Continued