News Release
 Worldwide
vigils for 4th International Animal Rights Day
Uncaged Campaigns will be holding a vigil between 4.30pm and 7pm on
Monday 10th December outside the Downing Street Site at Cambridge University.
This site has been chosen for its use of animals in physiology, zoology,
experimental psychology and xenotransplantation experiments. Plans have
been proposed to build a massive new animal testing laboratory in the
middle of green belt land, on the edge of Cambridge. The controversial
plan has been backed by Lord Sainsbury, and would see hundreds of monkeys
tortured and killed each year.
In addition, protesters against animal cruelty around the world will
be holding candlelit vigils outside other establishments responsible for
causing suffering to animals to mark International
Animal Rights Day (IARD). The protesters will be remembering the animals
that have suffered and died at the hands of these establishments.
The idea was the brainchild of Sheffield-based animal rights organisation
Uncaged Campaigns, who last year hit the headlines in the Daily Express
with their shocking revelations of pig-to-primate organ transplant experiments,
conducted on behalf of Cambridge-based Imutran at Huntingdon Life Sciences.
The date, 10 December, coincides with the anniversary of the United Nations'
endorsement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights back in 1948.
The campaign was launched in 1999 on the 50th anniversary of the human rights
declaration, and aims to achieve international recognition of animal rights
within another 50 years.
Stars such as Joanna Lumley, Spike Milligan and top barrister Michael
Mansfield QC have signed the Universal Declaration
of Animal Rights which is the basis of the campaign. The declaration
has also been endorsed by 32 different animal protection societies from
19 countries. Campaigners from all over the UK, Spain, Italy, Holland,
USA and New Zealand will be holding vigils this year.
Dan Lyons, director of Uncaged Campaigns, explains the reasons behind
the campaign:
"We want people to recognise that all animals, not just humans,
deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. In order to protect
the welfare of animals, we must respect their right not be hurt and
killed by human beings who should know better. The world believes in
human rights because we are capable of feeling physical and emotional
pain, and because we have a will to live. But all animals share these
features, and so, logically, we should honour their rights."
Uncaged Campaigns 06.12.01
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