Bedford Animal Action are planning a national demo against the proposed NIRAH project on Saturday 4th October 2008 in Bedford.  Details are yet to be confirmed so watch this space.  Please put this date in your diary and come along to support the campaign if you can. More information on the NIRAH project can be found on our campaign page and also on the CAPS website

 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/

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.

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

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

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…

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.

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.