Animal-rights activists took matters into their own hands in Brazil last week by releasing 178 animals from a cosmetics testing laboratory.
The 120-strong group of protestors had surrounded the lab in São Roque in a bid to stop trucks and vans transporting the animals to another location where they feared they would be destroyed.
Nonetheless, some of the vehicles were still able to break through the crowd and go on their way.
Later in the night, activists stormed the laboratory after hearing what they described as animals’ cries of pain. They freed at least 178 animals – most of them dogs – taking them away in their own personal cars.
The activists allege they had been hearing the animals’ cries and howls for a long time and suspected “mistreatment, even mutilation”.
The protest had been ongoing for days as activists demanded a meeting with the head of the laboratory – who kept refusing, citing safety reasons.
Local police have now received two complaints: one from the activists, accusing the lab of mistreatment; and another from the laboratory, citing animal theft and denouncing the episode as “an act of terrorism”.
