Oxford University’s lab animal supplier exposed!

The following is an interview with a woman who worked at Harlan, one of the largest companies in the world supplying animals to vivisection laboratories. She worked at a Harlan establishment in the Netherlands, but what makes this interview particularly pertinent to SPEAK and its campaign against Oxford University is the fact that Oxford University get many of the animals they abuse in their laboratories from Harlan UK, which is based in Leicestershire, a relatively short distance from Oxford University. It is highly likely that Felix was supplied by Harlan. Harlan currently houses Oxford University’s primate population.

What this interview highlights is the appalling way that animals are treated. The truth is, the life of a laboratory animal is a life of unimaginable horror. None of us can imagine what pain and torment they are forced to endure. Their lives, from the moment they are born to the moment they die, are filled with nothing but misery.

Oxford University and other vivisection laboratories try to hoodwink the public that the animals they use and abuse are treated with care. Of course like most things that come from the mouths of vivisectors, it’s all an elaborate lie, designed to keep hidden their disgusting and grotesque practices.

For several weeks, Suzanne Verbeek (38) worked at vivisection breeder Harlan in Horst. Suzanne was to begin at the department where guinea pigs and rabbits are held. At seven o’clock in the morning she would be at the gate, ready for her first day at work.

I just couldn’t handle it any longer. Mentally it was tearing me up inside.

How they treat the animals...it’s unacceptable.

How did you end up at Harlan?

I got the job at Harlan through a temporary work agency. They asked me if I wanted to work with animals. This seemed like a wonderful opportunity because I love animals. But then, when you’re there you see all these large racks lined up against the wall, supporting numerous white plastic crates. I was set to work in the guinea pig section and there you could see them, thousands of these small creatures.

By then, did you already know where you were? Did you even know Harlan is a breeder for the vivisection industry?

No. The only thing I had been told by the agency is that I would be taking care of the animals at a breeding facility. I asked my colleagues what they would do with the guinea pigs there and that’s how I found out that they were destined for animal testing laboratories. The crates measured only sixty by forty centimetres but they were literally full of guinea pigs. Sixty young guinea pigs or thirty larger animals were stuffed in one small crate. I had to clean the crates and move the animals from one crate to the other. I took the pregnant mothers with both hands and carefully placed them in the other crate. That was no good because it was too slow. My colleagues told me to seize the animals as fast as I could. They grabbed three guinea pigs in each hand and threw them in the crates. They squealed.

So it was merely taking orders for shipment rather than taking care of animals. You had only just begun at that point.

I found myself crying. “Why are you crying?” a colleague asked. “I think it’s horrible what happens in here!” I replied. “It’s completely normal, that’s how we always do it” they told me. I could not believe what I was hearing.

Still you dealt with it. What was your worst experience?

In the weekends there were hardly any personnel. They feed the animals once or twice and check to see if there is enough water. When I would come in on Monday there was this overwhelming smell of ammonia. The crates were filled with excrement and urine. All the animals were filthy. I had to fetch the dead animals from the crates; among them were young babies and pregnant mothers. Every day a lot of animals would die, especially over the weekends. That was the worst. I had to clean it up. I was constantly crying when I had to put the dead animals with the trash. It’s just terrible. I had nightmares because of what I saw and experienced there. The animals would gnaw at one another; mother guinea pigs would bite their babies to death. They would bite off another animal’s head or you would find a paw that was torn off or even animals that were completely ripped apart. It’s constant stress that causes these animals to eat away at their own infants.

How many guinea pigs are being held at Harlan Horst?

The guinea pigs are in plastic crates which are placed on large storage racks, six rows high. We’re talking at least 10.000 animals at any given moment.

I found myself crying. “Why are you crying?” a colleague asked. “I think it’s horrible what happens in here!” I replied.

“It’s completely normal, that’s how we always do it” they told me.

I could not believe what I was hearing.

Did you also work with other animals?

I briefly worked at the rabbit section. They kept 400 rabbits there. The animals had steel cages with no straw. The cages were stacked on one another. Faeces would drop onto the animal in the cage below. Here I saw a woman who was busy working with some rabbits. I asked her what she was doing. She replied that she was taking blood from the animals. She took a large injection needle and pierced it straight through the heart of one of the rabbits. Without anaesthesia, straight through its tiny body into the heart. “Why??” I asked. “Can this not be done using one of the arteries?” My colleague answered that “the blood sample specifically has to come from the heart directly”. Those people did not have any problems with this they have become so cold and relentless.

Were all animals in good health?

No. There were sick animals as well. Sick rabbits were kept separate from the rest. I had to make boxes, fill them with straw and give the animals some food and a liquid gel of some sort for them to drink. The sick animals were sent to England eventually. Guinea pigs that were sick were just left to die and then dumped in trash bags,

Why did you quit?

I worked there for 4 to 5 weeks. I just couldn’t handle it any longer. Mentally it was tearing me up inside. I couldn’t sleep at night. I was crying at home. My husband finally made the decision for me; “you’re far too much of a human being to be doing this kind of work” he said. How they treat the animals; how they seize bunny rabbits by their ears and put them on transport to vivisection labs, it’s unacceptable. To this day I still feel guilty for every day that I’ve worked there.

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