"I fear that history will judge their animal rights opponents as less extreme than the very scientists who persist in non-human primate research..." - Marius Maxwell MBBChir, DPhil, a practising neurosurgeon who gained his doctorate at Oxford University and who has spoken out against the vivisectors at the university.

Felix is the name given by vivisector Tipu Aziz to a macaque monkey whom he intends to abuse and torture for the next few years. The irony of his naming should not be lost on us. Tipu Aziz avowedly has no feelings for animals, yet he has chosen a name for the animal that is to be his slave - Aziz has freely admitted, if it was left up to him he would kill animals in order to test cosmetics and Aziz also believes we should be experimenting on Great Apes. Felix is the monkey who featured in the recent BBC2 documentary, ‘Monkeys, Rats and Me’, aired on 27th November, 2006, which showed the sanitized, ‘acceptable’ face of vivisection that vivisectors want the public to see.

Felix was shown strapped to a restraining chair, being conditioned by Oxford University technicians for his future life of torture. For the camera, Felix’s ‘conditioning’ was allowed to take place ‘on his own terms’: the technicians did not force him to sit in the restraint chair or to come out of his cage if he appeared reluctant. Those who have themselves witnessed the harsh realities of life in the laboratory when working undercover and released their stories and their evidence to the wider public would say that this was a falsified representation of what goes on in laboratories, and biased media coverage at its most blatant.

Given the obvious imbalance of power in such a situation, and the vulnerable position of the victim (not to mention the fact that time is money, which makes the victim’s compliance essential), it seems fairly obvious that to gain control one must exert ones power and authority. That is how the training of animals is achieved. It is defined by control and by deprivation. It is not and never can be an act of co-operation, and must always be an act of control. Let us not forget that no monkey or dog or cat or any other animal including us would volunteer to be maimed or butchered or poisoned. It is - on a simple, basic level - counter to the survival instinct, which is generally to avoid pain and suffering, and of course death. To be able to exercise control, the oppressor must have a compliant victim; a vivisector’s or technician’s power lies in the fear that he or she can exert on their subjects. The reality of Felix’s life is that he will be afforded no gentleness, respect or dignity from his torturers. He will be taught to fear.

These are not fanciful propagandist claims made by the vivisector’s opponents, but well-documented facts – indeed, these are facts that we highlighted in an article posted on the SPEAK website, which reproduced an application (leaked to us from the Home Office) from a leading Oxford University vivisector seeking to vivisect on primates.

Amongst the documents made available to us was paperwork, which proved that the standard method employed to coerce a monkey into compliance in order to facilitate experiments is to starve them. That, one might argue, is hardly ‘humane’ or given to allowing the animal to accept their conditioning on their own terms. It is an exercise in brutality, and one to which Felix will undoubtedly have been subjected and will continue to endure until his death.

At the time the BBC2 documentary was being filmed, Felix was destined to undergo surgery on his brain. We believe that if this has not already taken place, the invasive surgery into Felix's skull will begin any day now. Over the next couple of years, Felix will be confined in isolation to a small cage and will have to endure a long succession of tests. These will not involve his being held in a restraint chair for his fun or amusement. These will involve him being tortured.

At this moment, we are unsure how long Felix will be allowed to live. It could be that his life will closely resemble the pitiful lives of the 'Oxford two', two macaques who were surgically brain damaged and forced to endure 15 years’ of abuse, incarcerated inside Oxford University’s laboratories. One thing is for certain, however: if we don’t act now, Felix will never see the outside world or his own kind again. Felix will live, will be abused and will ultimately die never having experienced the freedoms, which are his birthright.

It is vital that Felix isn’t forgotten. It is his only chance of surviving the sentence meted out to him by his abusers.  It is imperative that we fight for Felix and for his right to life! For his right to a life free from suffering…Felix is not a number. He is an individual, just like all the other animals being held and abused at Oxford University. We know it was too late for the 'Oxford Two', but it’s not too late for Felix. Oxford University can’t just dismiss us and say they have killed him, as they did with the 'Oxford Two'. We know that they want to keep Felix alive in order to exploit him for as long as possible, but we must act now if we’re to stand any chance of saving his life. It is not a life that was meant to be spent incarcerated in Oxford University’s fortified research laboratory to suffer and die alone. His life belongs to him, and not to Tipu Aziz, or to Oxford University.

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), SPEAK have today requested the following information from the university. This approach to the university is a precursor to a campaign to get Felix released from his tormentors. Please help us 'Free Felix'. More information will be posted shortly.

• We would like the ‘Description of the Plan of Work’ (as it is set out on the Home Office Application form for a project licence) of the experimental program to be conducted by Tipu Aziz on Felix, the macaque monkey who was featured on the BBC2 documentary, ‘Monkeys, Rats and Me’, aired on 27th November, 2006.

• We would like to know what the ‘Objectives’ of the work on Felix are (as it is set out on the Home Office Application form for a project licence).

• We would also like a copy of the ‘Protocol’ sheet which will need to include information that relates to the ‘Termination’ of Felix by Oxford University and which will come under the heading ‘fate of the animals’, on the Home Office Application form.