Protest at firm’s link to animal testing lab

9:00am Thursday 19th October 2006

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Animal rights campaigners staged a protest outside a Leyland firm that supplied equipment to the controversial Huntingdon Life Sciences company which tests drugs on animals.

Protesters from the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty group unfurled banners outside the Chiller Rental Services plant in Wigan Road, Leyland.

The firm has previously provided air conditioning units to the Huntingdon Life Sciences laboratory.

The protest was part of a nationwide campaign by the animal rights group.

Campaign organiser Jarrah Selvy said: "We are protesting at firms which have contracts with Huntingdon Life Sciences.

"The protest at Chiller Rental Services was very successful and we had a lot of support from passing motorists who were giving us the thumbs up and hooting their horns."

Chiller Rental Services' operations director Keith Browse said the work his firm were doing at the laboratory was for the benefit of the animals.

He said: "We provided Huntingdon with air conditioning equipment because their main system went down.

"No local contractors wanted to do the work because of the protests.

"As far as we are concerned, if we had not done it then the animals would have suffered.

"We have not been at the site since the start of this year and have no plans to return."