New footage from British laboratories reveals shocking reality

: Press release; Published: 20 April 2026

The unimaginable suffering inside animal testing laboratories

Screaming monkeys forced to have tubes violently inserted into their stomachs, rabbits confined in tight plastic restraint boxes, mini pigs with holes cut into the skin of their backs, beagle dogs desperately trying to tear inhalation masks from their faces – the latest images from two British laboratories once again reveal the unimaginable suffering of animals used in experiments. A worker secretly recorded the footage and passed it on to animal welfare organizations. The association Doctors Against Animal Experiments has expressed shock at the routine cruelty the animals are subjected to and is calling for an immediate transition to methods that are animal-free and due to this relevant to humans.

Most of the footage dates from 2025 and was recorded by an employee during his daily work. In an article published in the British newspaper Daily Mail, he said that the screams and whimpering of the animals haunted him. He would have preferred to quit, but he wanted to provide the public with a window into this hidden world so that change could happen. According to the article, he stated that all the employees cared for the animals, but they were unable to do anything to alleviate their suffering. Eventually, he handed the photo and video material to the Australian animal protection organization Animals International, which published it together with the British organization Animal Aid.

The footage shows long-tailed macaques writhing in primate chairs with breathing masks strapped to their heads, as well as beagles desperately struggling against the masks. Rats and rabbits are placed into narrow plastic tubes to inhale test substances, leaving them completely immobilized. In macaques, dogs, pigs, rabbits, and rats, a gavage tube is used — meaning a tube is forcibly shoved down the animals’ throats, through the esophagus, and into the stomach while they are fully conscious, in order to administer a test substance. The animals struggle vehemently. A pig fixed in a kind of sling screams as a large bandage is removed. On its back, eight large square sections of skin have been cut out, into which a test substance is injected. Among the substances tested were weight-loss jabs, headache tablets, cholesterol drugs, antibiotics, and antidepressants.

“The footage is disturbing — but this is everyday practice in toxicity testing on animals,” comments Dr Corina Gericke D.V.M., Vice Chair of Doctors Against Animal Experiments. Animal experiments like those filmed are still standard procedure for new medications and chemicals prior to market approval. Tests are conducted to examine acute or chronic toxicity over 28 or 90 days, for example. The animals are given the substances daily via gavage or are forced to inhale them. Some tests, such as those examining potential harm to offspring, can last up to two years. In the end, all animals are killed. The pharmaceutical and chemical industries often commission such regulatory tests to specialized laboratories.

The images are reminiscent of the undercover investigation conducted by the organization SOKO Tierschutz at the Hamburg-based contract laboratory LPT in 2019. The public outcry was so immense that the laboratory was forced to close in 2022.

Dr Gericke expressed deep gratitude to the employee for what he endured in order to reveal the reality to the public. “The pro-animal-testing lobby regularly downplays animal experimentation, but disturbing images like these demonstrate what truly happens behind closed laboratory doors. Animal experiments are not only extremely cruel; they are also scientifically unsound and even counterproductive, as such tests guarantee neither the safety nor the effectiveness of substances for humans,” Gericke explains. “Instead of subjecting animals to such suffering, human-relevant testing systems such as organ-on-a-chip technologies must be used. Unlike animal experiments, they provide meaningful results that are relevant to humans.”