Paul O’Grady Promotes Our Best Friends Campaign

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For the love of companion animals, TV presenter Paul O’Grady, from the hit documentary series Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs, has joined with BUAV to help shine a spotlight on the launch of ‘Our Best Friends,’ a new campaign to raise awareness of, and bring about an end to the use of, cats and dogs in experiments.

Paul O ‘Grady (a multi-pet parent seen in the photo above with Olga, a Westie mix who was adopted by the TV presenter in 2004) told the BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection): “I love my dogs and would do anything to protect them. I was shocked to discover that so many dogs and cats are forced to suffer in experiments, right here in the UK. I am delighted to support the BUAV with its new campaign to end these cruel tests on Our Best Friends. And I urge others to do the same. ”

According to the most recent government figures available, more than 2,800 dogs and 150 cats suffered in experiments in the UK in 2011. Figures for the years 2007-2011 show over that 20,000 dogs and more than 800 cats were subjected to experiments, many more than once.

Paul O’Grady is the latest in a long line of animal-loving luminaries who have joined forces with BUAV to campaign against cruelty. Chrissie Hynde, Downton Abbey star Peter Egan, Twiggy, Moby, Joanna Lumley and Morrissey are among the names of notables who signed an open letter to the Home Office Minister addressing concerns over animal suffering at one of the United Kingdom’s top universities; Paul McCartney, Ricky Gervais, Joss Stone and Games of Thrones star Peter Dinklage have joined the BUAV-established Cruelty Free International’s mission to end cosmetics testing on animals, and Ricky Gervais and Queen’s Brian May spoke out to stop a proposed plan for a dog breeding farm which would supply beagles to laboratories.

Under the banner ‘Cats and dogs are our best friends – they don’t belong in laboratories’, the BUAV is now launching ‘Our Best Friends’ campaign to ban all experiments on dogs and cats in the UK. In the coming months, the BUAV will roll out a series of activities calling on the public, politicians, scientists and industry to back its call for a ban on the use of cats and dogs in experiments.

For more information:

• visit http://OurBestFriends.org

Photo courtesy BUAV