Bedford Animal Action

NIRAH Struggling for Cash

It appears that NIRAH is still struggling to raise the finances to make the project a reality.  They have recently approached Bedfordshire County Council for money and an additional loan of £400,000 has been agreed.  Apparently this is the maximum that the council can loan NIRAH at the moment for legal reasons as they are refusing to let the council view their business plan. The recent credit crunch is also making it difficult to raise the funds they need and they are now overseas for investment.  Local MP Nadine Dorries and County Councillor Susan Gascszak have raised concerns over the additional council funding.

 The full story can be read at http://www.bedsonsunday.com/bedsonsunday/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=314085

Pro-NIRAH Mayor of Bedford Frank Branston’s views can be read at http://frankbranston.co.uk/wordpress/

Posted in News |

World Day for Laboratory Animals - SHAC Demo

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) are holding a national demonstration to mark World Day for Laboratory Animals.  The demo will take place from 11am on Saturday 26th April 2008 in Horsham Park, Horsham, West Sussex.  There will be a march round the town centre finishing at Novartis, a multinational drugs company and customer of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).  More details can be found at www.shac.net/worldday.html

Transport from Bedford/Luton:

Unfortunately Bedford Animal Action has had to cancel the proposed minibus to the SHAC national demo due to a lack of response.  If you live in the area and are still going to the demo and need a lift, or can offer someone a lift, then please get in touch as we may be able to match people up.  Alternatively London Animal Rights have organised a coach to the demo.  This leaves at 9.30am and tickets cost £7 return.  For more details and to book a place please contact them at info@londonanimalrights.org.uk or on 07899 775493.

Posted in Action Alerts, Events |

Bobby Roberts Circus - Comment on Newspaper Article

The Comet, a North Hertfordshire/Mid Bedfordshire local Newspaper, has printed an article by one of thier journalists disagreeing with the view that Anne the elephant should be allowed to leave the circus and live out her life in a sanctuary.  You can read the article here…

The newspaper is also asking if you disagree with the author of the article - you can email your views to editorial@thecomet.net

Posted in Action Alerts, News |

NIRAH Brings out the Begging Bowl…Again!

A report in last week’s Bedfordshire on Sunday newspaper claims that NIRAH is after more money.  This time they are asking Bedfordshire County Council for a further £400,000.  The decision will be taken behind closed doors with the press and public excluded from the meeting.  The secrecy is apparently due to ‘commercially sensitive information’.

Bedfordshire County Council have already loaned £1 million to NIRAH and a further £2 million has come from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).  NIRAH has also collected donations from members of the public.

In March NIRAH was featured on a File on Four programme on Radio Four which looked at the behaviour of regional development agencies.  When questioned, George Kieffer (Director of NIRAH and Deputy Chair of EEDA) admitted that NIRAH had so far raised less than £2 million towards the project.  The total needed to complete the project is almost £600 million!

The full newspaper article can be viewed at http://www.bedsonsunday.com/bedsonsunday%2Dnews/DisplayArticle.asp?ID= 304679

Posted in News |

Demo Report - Bobby Roberts Circus

Over the last three weeks Bobby Roberts circus has been touring this region and has met with opposition at every venue.  Campaigners have been spreading the message that using animals for public entertainment is cruel and outdated.  Many families have turned away from the circus after hearing about the reality of life for the circus animals, others have left in disgust after witnessing the appalling condition and treatment of animals.  Read more here…

Posted in News |

Demo Report - Whipsnade Zoo

Despite the bad weather a small group of us turned up on Easter Monday to demonstrate outside Whipsnade Zoo near Dunstable in Bedfordshire to mark Zoo Awareness Day.  The fact that it was snowing for most of the morning made it difficult for some protesters to attend, however it also had a dramatic effect on visitor numbers, which appeared to be severely down on previous years’ attendance.

Local police had negotiated with Whipsnade zoo prior to the demonstration and as a result we were allowed to stand close to the zoo entrance and subway leading from the car park.  This gave us greater visibility with our placards and meant we were able to hand out leaflets to the majority of people visiting the zoo either by foot or in cars.  Most people were happy to accept a leaflet from us and hopefully after having read this they may think twice about visiting zoos in the future.

By about 1pm we were all frozen cold  and visitors had slowed almost to a halt so we decided to call it a day.  On the whole it felt as though the demo had been worthwhile with many leaflets and children’s leaflets distributed to the public.  The protest made the local newspaper, which also reported that the shooting of Jonnie the chimp had been a ‘breach of protocol’.  The full report can be seen at http://www.lb-news.co.uk/lbnews-news/displayarticle.asp?id=301386.  Photos from the demo can be seen in our photo gallery.

Posted in News |

URGENT - Meeting Tonight Cancelled

Tonight’s meeting has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.  We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.  Please check the website for details of fututre meetings.

Posted in Meetings |

April Meeting

The next Bedford Animal Action is scheduled for Tuesday 8th April 2008 from 7.45pm at the Phoenix pub, St John’s Street, Bedford.

Please note that this is the second Tuesday of the month, and not the first as usual.

If you have any items for discussion please email them to info@bedfordanimalaction.org for inclusion on the agenda.

Posted in Meetings |

Bobby Roberts Circus at Huntingdon Racecourse

(photo courtesy of CAPS) 

Bobby Roberts circus is visiting Huntingdon Racecourse near Brampton in Cambridgshire next week and campaigners from the area are hoping to organise demos to protest against their continued use of animals.  If you can help please get in touch and let us know which dates and times you can make.  Demos are being planned to coincide with the following performances:

Wednesday 26th March – 7pm
Thursday 27th March - 2.30pm and 7pm
Friday 28th March - 2.30pm and 7pm
Saturday 29th March - 2.30pm and 5pm
Sunday 30th March - 2.30pm

Please note that the Wednesday demo is definite but other demos will be subject to people being available.

For a map of Huntingdon Racecourse visit http://www.aboutbritain.com/maps/huntingdonracecourse-map.asp

More information on circus cruelty can be found at the Captive Animals Protection Society website at www.captiveanimals.org/circuses/index.htm.

Posted in Action Alerts, Events |

Demo Report - AstraZeneca and Staples in Luton

On Friday 14^th March a small group of campaigners from Bedford Animal Action visited AstraZeneca’s premises at Capability Green Industrial Park in Luton.  They didn’t seem to appreciate our presence as most office blinds were drawn from the moment we arrived.  It would appear that the police didn’t like us being there either and decided we had to leave less than an hour after we had arrived.  This was despite the fact that we had previously been in contact with them regarding the demo.  Despite this we were able to protest for about an hour with banners, placards and megaphones and were hopefully successful in alerting their neighbours to their involvement with HLS.  The industrial park was fairly quiet, however some passing workers and motorists showed their support for us, even if AstraZeneca decided to turn a blind eye to the truth about HLS.

As the demo had been cut short we decided to move on to Staples in Luton town centre and proceeded to hand out leaflets to customers.  However our efforts were once again cut short as the police took offence to our perfectly legal and peaceful protest and gave us 15 minutes to leave or face arrest.  We had previously managed to have a conversation with the store manager who informed us that he would be contacting head office to let them know we had been there.  He was a bit more vague though on his own views, claiming that he was ‘just a cog’.  We are sure however that many customers and employees would be horrified to learn of Staples involvement with HLS, if only we had been given a fair chance to let them know.

Both AstraZeneca and Staples appear desperate to hide the truth about their involvement with HLS as evidenced by the aggressive tactics of the police. We will not give in however and they can be rest assured we will be back in Luton in the future.

The Hearld and Post local newspaper covered the demo, their report can be seen at http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/lut-news/Animal-rights-group-holds-Luton.3 887025.jp.

More photos from the demo can be viewed in our photo gallery.

Posted in News |