The truth is out

Here it is; the information that Oxford University did not want anyone to see and tried their best to keep hidden.

In July 2006, the BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) used the Freedom of Information Act to request that universities should disclose the number of primates they had used in experiments in two particular years and for a summary of their current primate research. A number of universities complied with the request but six, including Oxford, refused to do so.

Oxford University proffered the ridiculous argument that disclosing the information would be likely to endanger the safety of the researchers and would prejudice their commercial interests.

After a thorough investigation, the Information Commissioner rejected the universities’ arguments and in a landmark ruling in April, the Commissioner’s Office ordered these six top universities to release information about the animal experiments they conduct. The Commissioner believed it was not sufficient to say that, due to the actions of a tiny minority of activists, there may be some general risk to the safety of individuals involved in animal research.

On 5 May 2009, Oxford University finally released the information that had been requested, which included details of the numbers of animals, including primates, imprisoned and killed inside its laboratories over the last few years.

This information revealed that Oxford University's new biomedical sciences building can hold up to 16 000 animals inside it at any one time. This is a huge number of animals, all of whom are individuals who are being deprived of their freedom, who are suffering and who will be killed when they have outlived their usefulness to this institution. And this number does not even include all the animals that Oxford University incarcerates and experiments on in total, just the ones being held inside the new lab.

In 2008, Oxford University held eighty six macaque monkeys captive. They forced them to learn certain tasks by depriving them of food and water. Sixty six of these macaques were then experimented on, which mostly involved slicing off the tops of their heads and removing parts of their brains for research into Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer’s, despite the fact that macaques don't get either of these diseases. Others were used to try to develop vaccines for HIV and other illnesses.

Oxford University claims that the monkeys don't suffer when being taught the tasks they want them to do, and that they do some of them 'entirely voluntarily', which is a farcical depiction of the fact the animals are starved into submission. Don't forget that no animal would willingly place itself into a tiny transportation cage that is so small that it can't turn around, or willingly spend hours unable to do anything but touch items on a computer screen.

Oxford University goes on to claim that only small sections of brain are removed, that the animals receive anaesthetics and painkillers and that the brain damage is minor. What they neglect to mention is that similar procedures have been refused licences in a number of other countries due to the suffering that such research causes to animals and that the experiments are ethically unacceptable because of this. In fact the Home Office licenses granted to Oxford University shows that these experiments cause the animals severe and substantial suffering.

Oxford University also claim that 'At the end of its life the animal is humanely killed.' which makes it sound like the animals are put down when they reach the end of their natural life. This is not the case at all; the animals are killed as soon as they have served their purpose and are no longer of any use to the researchers - a pitiful end for creatures who should be afforded the right to be able to live their lives free from being experimented on.

Despite their best efforts, there is no justification that can excuse Oxford University treating living animals in the way they do in their laboratories. The very fact that they continually try to prevent any details about their animal research from being made public, should make everyone question just what this institution is up to and what it is trying to hide.

It is a complete travesty that non-consenting, sensitive and intelligent creatures are being incarcerated and then mutilated in barbaric and cruel experiments that should have been banned many years ago. SPEAK will continue to fight for the rights of animals not to be imprisoned inside laboratories and not to be experimented on, not until every cage is comfortable, but until every cage is empty.

Year	Total number of primates held & used (i.e. made to learn tasks )	Number of primates who underwent procedures and experiments (such as brain mutilation)
2004	109	20
2005	109	22
2006	100	49
2007	99	40
2008	86	66