I wish I had good news. I wish that what I have to share didn’t just make me cry. This is an update on the Astra Zeneca beagles who I wrote about for Blog the Change for Animals.
Below is a direct quote from the Facebook page for Win Animal Rights, who has been instrumental, along with the Beagle Freedom Project, in trying to get Astra Zeneca to free their laboratory beagles. They have changed their campaign from “Astra Zeneca -Free the Beagles Immediately” to “Boycott Astra Zeneca – Free the Beagles Immediately”. The video included at the end of the quote is not in English. I couldn’t understand the words the protestors in it were saying, but I could understand the tones of their voices. I admire them for being out there doing what they could to help.
“Update on the sad fate of the Astra Zeneca beagles. On February 26th the dogs were transported. Activists mobilized as soon as they learned of the plans but they were outnumbered by police and security. You can hear the dogs barking in the background and the anguished shout outs of the activists. Heartbreaking.
Published on February 26, 2013 (Google Translation)
Last night got our activists who attended Rååhöjdens kennel ensure that AstraZeneca planned a new transport and also the deportation of dogs. Animal Rights Alliance mobilized as quickly as we could a group of animal friends with a single purpose: to stop the transportation of dogs. Having first established that the shipment has not went to Ängelholm previously we could follow it to Sturup airport outside Malmö. dogs were transported in two vehicles and arrived at the airport escorted by police and security companies. Animal Rights Alliance tried to stop the car rampage by physically blocking them. Activists put in front of the vehicles and the cars. Because the number of police officers exceeded the 30 or so activists on the ground failed unfortunately to get them to turn back and got rather see them go by and disappear against the aircraft area. An activist was arrested in the scuffle and was taken by police to Malmö for questioning. He was released after a few hours. Hoping to arouse empathy among all personnel involved in the airport, and to bring the idea of how courage can be overturned an evil plan, continued activists shout slogans and exhortations to halt the planned exports. With despair but unwavering hope of rescue dogs, we saw how the dog crates were loaded aboard two transport aircraft. We could hear the dogs whimpering and barking from their cages and their vocalizations testified anxiety, terror and fear. When we finally saw the pilots arrive at the aircraft, the stairs are rolled away and the doors to the plan off the tears started to fall down our cheeks. The scrapes we felt against our cheeks after being dragged on the asphalt, the pain we felt in the arms after police locked them firmly, the pain was nothing compared to the desperate sadness we feel in our hearts at the moment the plan’s engines began to hum and ground staff gave the green light for them to lift. At one moment, the plan was up in the air and the sparkle of hope in the dogs was forever extinguished. At AstraZeneca, with all the other staff and by all other parties who helped to realize this exports, echoing a big void where empathy, warmth and respect would otherwise have taken root. AstraZeneca has had several chances to let these dogs meet spring in loving family home. They’ve had a chance to act on morality, empathy and solidarity with the sentient, innocent creatures. Instead, they have done everything in their power to ensure that these dogs are forced to undergo painful experiments on the way to certain death. , we today called on everyone to contact Malmö Sturup airport and ask them to distance themselves from these transports and say no to send dogs to death. Telephone: 010-109 01 00 (International: +46 10 109 01 00) E-mail: info@malmoairport.se We also ask you to call the AstraZeneca board and appeal for the dogs that are left at the kennel in Örkelljunga . Anders Ekblom President, AstraZeneca AB, Jan-Olof Jacke VP Finance, R & D Anders Vikdahl Head of Sweden Operations Steinar Höeg External Affairs Director Europe John Linde Deputy General Counsel, R & D, Secretary Tel: 08-553260 00 Let Astra dogs live! LIKE Animal Rights Alliance on Facebook to learn more and stay updated on Astra Canine fate: www.facebook.com / Animals Knob Alliance.”
My heart is broken. Please boycott Astra Zeneca. I do not currently use any of their products but I will send them an email anyway telling that I never will and why. Also, visit the Facebook page I linked to above and see if there is anything else you can do. If prayer is something you believe in, please pray for each one of these little souls. Thank you!
I didn’t get a chance to read your first post but the fact that they are doing this out of the country makes me think that they are doing it to avoid animal rights laws….so they know that someone thinks it’s wrong.
They were closing their research plant in one country and moving the beagles to another country. It seemed like a good opportunity for them to let some of the dogs go to rescues….but they didn’t see it that way. I don’t think they were breaking any laws, but it certainly seems to me that what they were doing should be against the law! I guess that’s another thing that needs to be worked on. Thanks for reading and caring, Jess.