Important Statement from the SNGP

Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs campaign fought for six years to close down a farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire, where guinea pigs were being bred for vivisection. Our aim from the outset was to stop the suffering of these gentle creatures at source, firstly by preventing them from being bred in appalling unsanitary and overcrowded conditions, and secondly - as a direct consequence - to stop them ending up in the vivisectors laboratory where they would be tortured to death.

That goal has now been achieved. Newchurch Guinea Pig Farm announced a couple of months ago that after 35 years, they had decided to throw in the towel in final capitulation to the pressure from animal rights campaigners’ six years’ of legal protest. Their announcement to the media invoked the usual bias in favour of the oppressors, portraying the farm's owners as long-suffering victims. What was not mentioned was the fact that the family had raked in huge profits from the suffering of innocent creatures, and that it was, in fact, the guinea pigs who had suffered, destined to either die in filthy, overcrowded sheds, or - if they survived long enough to be sold on for vivisection - to join the countless victims sacrificed to a barbaric and flawed scientific practice.

With the welcome announcement by the farm, our part has effectively run its course in that part of the country. However if the family do decide to go back on their statement, the campaign will once again swing back into action. Therefore, for the foreseeable future the family's business operations will be closely monitored, until we are completely satisfied that they don’t intend to renege on their promises.

So what next for SGNP? After a consultation period during which many views were considered, it has been decided that the SNGP will be giving all their resources acquired over the last six years to the SPEAK campaign. We believe that Oxford has become one of the main areas in the battle to end vivisection in this country, and that it is absolutely imperative that the Oxford University laboratory is never built. We therefore ask that all our supporters join us in backing the SPEAK campaign.

SPEAK have a proven track record of success. They successfully prevented the building of a new vivisection laboratory in Cambridge, and little more than a few months later brought work on the Oxford laboratory to a grinding halt for over 17 months. With the right amount of resources and support, animal rights campaigners can make sure this campaign will be our next victory – one which will bring us a step closer towards the total abolition of vivisection in this country.

And finally, SNGP would like to thank everyone who supported us over the last six years. Now its time to face the next challenge and finish the job once and for all!