Animal rights protestors target Bournemouth company over links to testing firm

Dorset Animal Action (DAA) held a protest this afternoon against waste disposal company Stericycle.

They called for the centre to cut its ties with Marshall BioResources (MBR) Acres, an animal breeding centre in Cambridgeshire, over what it claims are the firm’s “incredibly unethical” methods.

The site’s parent company, MBR, is an American-based business which carries out testing on animals for biomedical research.

Stericycle, which is based next to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, is a specialist waste disposal company that the activists claim is cremating dead animals on behalf of MBR.

Both companies have stressed the importance of animal welfare and ethical standards in their work.

Stacey Stratton, a DAA member, said: “ It’s hard to protest against a facility like MBR Acres itself, but if you can protest against everyone that works with them and supplies them in a peaceful and lawful way like we do every week, [then] eventually these companies just say it’s not worth our while.”

She added: “We will be here every week until Stericycle stop working with MBR Acres.”

This is not the first demonstration to have taken place, with activists expressing their anger at the company in a series of nationwide events over the last six months.

In August, they scaled the Stericycle building to object to the same issue.

Stericycle’s website says that they hold themselves to the ‘highest ethical standards’ and likewise MBR hold themselves to ‘high standards related to health, welfare and quality.’

Both companies have been approached for comment.