Government decides Yorkshire beagle farm can expand

Cruelty Free International has today condemned a decision by Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Secretary of State for Local Government and Communities to allow the expansion of a beagle breeding facility in in Yorkshire. 

Bantin & Kingman Ltd has been fighting to allow the expansion of its cruel facility in the picturesque hamlet of Grimston, East Yorkshire.  It is responsible for the breeding and supplying of hundreds of beagles and other animals for experiments each year.

Michelle Thew, Chief Executive, Cruelty Free International said: ‘Cruelty Free International is deeply disappointed by this outcome. The planning application to expand this breeding facility has been an issue of strong public concern as is using dogs in research. This is a sad day for animals and, as a result, thousands of dogs will now be bred at Bantin & Kingman and be supplied to laboratories across Europe to suffer and die in experiments.’  

Following detailed legal evidence from Cruelty Free International and pressure from the public and local residents, the local council had already turned down two applications by Bantin & Kingman to expand their cruel operation in the picturesque hamlet of Grimston.

Each application had been successfully rejected by East Riding Council and most notably by former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles in 2012. Although applications and appeals of this kind are usually decided upon at local Government level, Mr Pickles ‘recovered’ the application for the second time following an appeal by B&K Ltd. Today’s decision had been postponed pending the general election.

The company is responsible for the breeding and supplying of hundreds of beagles and other animals for experiments each year.  In January, its Italian sister company Green Hill, saw three executives convicted of animal cruelty at a similar beagle breeding farm.  Bantin & Kingman not only shares the same parent company as Green Hill – Ghislaine Rondot, one of the executives to receive a prison sentence in Italy for animal cruelty, was also its Director.

The UK-wide campaign run by Cruelty Free International to save the #YorkshireBeagles received widespread public support and was backed by MPs and celebrities including Ricky Gervais, Jilly Cooper, Chris Packham and Carly Stensen. We have provided expert legal argument to the Government.  Last year we handed a 99,000 strong petition to the Department for Communities and Local Government, calling on the Secretary of State to uphold the decision to stop the expansion of the beagle farm.  Cruelty Free International is now considering legal options to challenge the decision.