What the Jury Heard Today: Rose’s Testimony on the MBR Beagles

Members of the jury, thank you so much for being so patient and for listening to everything that has been said, that means a lot to me.

25 years ago, as a child, when I first found out there was an animal testing lab minutes from where I lived. Where defenceless cats and dogs were subjected to painful experiments. I never imagined that I would end up on trial for rescuing one of those dogs.

As you know, today, beagles are still being bred at MBR Acres and sent to that same facility in Harrogate.

Nothing has changed in 25 years, despite whistleblowers exposing violations of law. Despite the support of the public, MPs, celebrities, scientists. Despite relentless campaigning to save the beagles from this criminal abuse. I know this not just because of my studies with Dr. Andrew Knight and other animal welfare experts. I know this because I saw the cruelty firsthand.

However, we are a nation of animal lovers. We rescue strays. We campaign to save British wildlife. We open our homes to animals who have nowhere else to go.

And yet somewhere along the way, we let the beagles down.

Not because we stopped caring. But because a broken system, and broken promises from the government that were supposed to protect them, put the beagles somewhere most of us could not see. Behind closed doors. Behind legislation that promised protection and delivered none. Behind an inspection regime that stopped inspecting.

So now I am standing before you today because I wanted to rescue some puppies and give them a fair chance at life.

I want to go back to the last time I saw Love.

I watched her playing with him through the window. I could see it, she wanted the best for him too. Of course she did. She was a human being holding a beagle puppy. There is only one way that feels.

But the powers that be overruled her, and the thousands of people that called for Love to be freed. And sadly Love was returned to MBR Acres.

I have thought so many times about the life he almost had. He was so close to safety. He could have come home with me, to London, to my husband and our dog Oliver. He could have had toys, a soft bed, the freedom to run on Hackney Marshes each morning. Just as all dogs deserve.

Instead, he went back to being number 0M21066. One of many, in a concrete cage covered in urine and faeces, with an empty barrel and a ball hanging from a chain.

From there, I don’t know. Either his blood was drained from his body until there was nothing left for his heart to pump. Or he was shipped to a laboratory and used in experiments until he died, or was no longer useful, and was put to sleep.

I will never know which. But I do know he has gone. Every single puppy you saw in that footage has gone. Every one.

So I want to ask you something.

I have described two lives for Love. One is a concrete cage, a ball on a chain, a needle in the heart, the serial code 0M21066. The other is a soft bed, walks in the outdoors, a family who names him Love.

Which of those two lives represents who we are as a nation of animal lovers?

Which one is honest and decent? Which one hides what it does behind closed doors, behind systems designed so that most people never see what’s happening inside

We did not hide. We showed you everything.

Most of what the prosecution knows about how and why the rescue was organised comes from us and our footage. It is not common for a burglar to film their actions and go to the authorities and share exactly what they did and why. It is not common for a burglar to do something that is not for personal gain.

We filmed and published it. We told the world what we had done. We were honest.

And we did this because there is a world we are trying to build - not a world without rules, but a world that lives up to the values we already hold.

A world where ordinary people, when they see an animal suffering and scared, do not feel compelled to give up or look away. Where the instinct to help, as I felt as a child, is not punished but celebrated.

Where Love’s story does not end at 16 weeks in a concrete cage.

But after growing old with a loving family.

Love deserved that world. So do all the ones who came after him.

That world is possible. It is kind. It is honest.

Now, it is over to you, the decision is in your hands to decide whether this was a burglary, or a puppy rescue.

Thank you.

A note from Animal Rising

This work is only possible because of your support.

Monthly donations allow us to support defendants in court, continue the campaign to close MBR Acres and free the beagles still inside, and sustain our wider work to end animal exploitation.

If you believe in this work, please consider becoming a monthly donor.

Become a monthly donor here.

You can also choose to “adopt a beagle”. By signing up to one of our adoption packs as a monthly donor, you’ll receive updates about the rescued puppies, an exclusive t-shirt, and more.

Adopt a beagle and become a monthly donor here.