Undercover footage shows ‘gratuitous cruelty’ at Spanish animal testing facility

Campaigners call for the closure of the Madrid research firm, after whistleblower video allegedly captures unacceptable treatment

Undercover footage of gratuitous cruelty and abuse" allegedly taken in an animal testing facility in Spain - which has previously secured funding from the EU and Spanish authorities for projects - has been published, provoking calls for the centre's closure.

Madrid-based contract research organisation Vivotecnia conducts experiments on a range of animals including monkeys, dogs, mini pigs, rats, mice and rabbits for the biopharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetic, tobacco and food industries. An animal rights organisation said the footage was taken by a whistleblower who worked at the facility between 2018 and 2020. It appears to show animals housed in barren conditions, being taunted, smacked and shaken, and cut into with no or inadequate anaesthesia.