THE COST OF SUFFERING

The university has revealed that the building itself, inside which at any one time over 16 thousand animals will be imprisoned and exploited, cost £29.8 million to build, nearly £12 million more than the original expected figure of £18 million. The university’s private security arrangements were revealed to have cost £6 million to date.  Whether this figure includes the cost of taking out the injunction by which it has sought to stifle free speech and deprive people of their right to lawful protest is unclear.

The BBC also obtained the figures for the policing of the building from The Home Office, who, it would seem, were rather reticent in revealing them, with the BBC having to appeal on several occasions for the release of the information until the Home Office were forced to comply. Not surprising really, as the figures show that a staggering £16.3 million of tax payers’ money was wasted on ‘protecting’ those complicit in the incarceration and abuse of innocent, non-consenting beings between 2005/6 and 2008/9. This money has been shown to have come centrally from the Home Office, rather than from Oxford’s policing budget.  It would be interesting to know how much of this money was spent on the unlawful arrest and wrongful prosecution of sixteen SPEAK campaign supporters during the Encaenia Demo in 2006 and the subsequent trial at which they were found not guilty by the judge, and just how much is wasted each week at the Thursday site demos where officers can be seen lolling around eating bars of chocolate while campaigners carry out their lawful protests. Members of the public, whose taxes have been spent on this operation might also want to reflect on the fact that Oxford University decided to position this laboratory in a busy street in central Oxford without any consultation with the police or the council, who they lied to originally when applying for planning permission by stating that no animals would be held inside.

Of course, we all know who really pays the price for the building of this laboratory; it will be the animals who are destined to suffer unseen and unheard within its walls, for who it will cost their dignity, their liberty and, ultimately, their lives. It is disgraceful that money has been thrown at Oxford University to enable them to torture animals to death, and we at SPEAK pledge to continue to fight for their rights and freedom until the horrendous practice of vivisection is brought to an end, once and for all.