Animal Rebellion activists have filmed themselves breaking into an animal testing facility to free more than a dozen beagles.
The group, aligned with eco-warriors Extinction Rebellion, can be seen using a saw to cut through a security gate at the MBR facility in Wyton, Cambridgeshire at 5am on Tuesday.
One protester can be seen pulling himself up over a high fence before performing a daring front flip and landing in the cage full of beagles.
He picks up the excited pups and hands them over to his colleagues one-by-one.
The activists handed themselves into police after smuggling 16 of the pups out claiming the animals “will now get to spend their first Christmas with loving new families”.
Two beagles, named Love and Libby, were confiscated by police and are currently being held in the back of a police car, the group said.
MBR Acres, owned by US-based company Marshall BioResources, has been targetted by campaigners before with Ricky Gervais and singer Will Young calling for its closure.
A petition to get the site closed has attracted nearly 25,000 signatures.
A protest camp known as Camp Beagle has appeared outside the beagle breeding facility in Wyton, Huntingdon since July last year.
In November last year singer Will Young handcuffed himself to the gates of the facility.
MBR, or Marshall BioResources, breeds between 1,600 and 2,000 beagles per year, with the dogs then being brought to animal testing laboratories around the UK at around 16 weeks old.
The company insists it operates to high animal-welfare standards and that it is inspected regularly by the Home Office, which licenses it, to ensure guidelines are met.
An inspection last June found no breaches of codes or legislation.
Advocates of animal testing say the process has led to many life-changing discoveries, from vaccines to transplants, anaesthetics and blood transfusions.
A MBR spokesman said: “MBR Acres is a fully licensed establishment, and a lawful breeder of beagle dogs that are specially bred for human and animal research in an environment compliant with our licenses.
“Unfortunately, extremists, including long-time activists, are committing unlawful and dangerous activities each day against our business and staff. On top of this continuous harassment, today this has included breaking into the site and entering our buildings to steal our dogs for a second time this year.
“We are appalled by these actions. Dogs bred for research need careful rehabilitation not to be harmed by a sudden change to their environment. This unlawful extreme action has placed stress on our animals and staff by totally disrupting our daily activity to take care for the welfare of our dogs on site.
“In an advanced democracy we ask why we should tolerate daily harassment and such intimidation endured for such a long time now, when our goal is to produce the best healthy dogs to help research, find and validate new treatments to save human and animal lives.
“We remain proud of what we do every day because our work allows the progress of medicine to improve – and often save – the lives of humans and animals.”
A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said “We were called at just before 6am to reports of a break-in at MBR Acres in Sawtry Way, Wyton, and the presence of a group of protestors at the front gates of the site.
“Officers attended the scene and three people have been arrested on suspicious of burglary and taken to Thorpe Wood Police Station.
“They are a 29-year-old man from Sheffield, a 23-year-old man from York, and a 33-year-old woman, of no known address.
“Police remain at the scene and are working to remove protestors who are on MBR Acres property.
“Our aim is to ensure staff at the site are able to go about their lawful work, while protestors are able to express their views peacefully and safely, within the law.”
