Activists ambush Bristol Uni Vice-Chancellor Evelyn Welch over controversial animal tests

An animal rights protest interrupted a talk help by Evelyn Welch on Wednesday, October 2nd.

PETA activists has ambushed vice-chancellor Evelyn Welch at another event on Wednesday (October 2nd).

The vice-chancellor was speaking at a local community group when PETA activists interrupted the Q&A session of the talk.

In the footage shared online, the activist came from the crowd to the front of the room where Evelyn Welch stood and addressed the vice-chancellor, saying “The University of Bristol is torturing rats”.

The crowd at the meeting appeared to discourage the protester and cut her off from speaking more, with the video on X capturing many calls for the protestor to “get out of here” and “go away”.

Before she was promptly escorted away, the activist held up a banner that read “Bristol Uni: Drop the Forced Swim Test.”

WATCH: PETA just disrupted a Q&A with @BristolUni’s Vice Chancellor Evelyn Welch to expose the horrors of the forced swim test. 🐀💦
This cruel experiment has no place in modern science.

Will Bristol finally listen?
 #AnimalTestingIsTorture #ScienceNotViolence… pic.twitter.com/YcsDxCC520

— PETA UK (@PETAUK) October 2, 2024

Uploaded to X by PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a video of the protest was captioned: “PETA just disrupted a Q&A with @BristolUni’s Vice Chancellor Evelyn Welch to expose the horrors of the forced swim test.

“The cruel experiment has no place in modern science. Will Bristol finally listen?”

This is another development in a series of protests carried out by PETA, which has been campaigning against Bristol University since 2021.

The forced swim test involves placing rats or mice in an inescapable long cylinder of water and measuring their response to stress. It is used to study the impact of potential antidepressants on behavioural despair.

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The university has previously received vocal criticism from PETA, who deemed it “bad science”. Scientists at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have also claimed that it is “no longer considered a model of depression”, concluding that it cannot predict the efficacy of new antidepressants.

Last Friday (27th September), a similar ambush was carried out by PETA against Professor Welch, where her speech at Yale was interrupted.

In the past week, the hashtag “#bristolbenicetomice” has gained traction on X, after the pharmaceutical industrial company, Sanofi, confirmed that it no longer uses the test, which PETA activists and followers of the campaign have celebrated.

Both PETA activists and Bristol students have been protesting the issue over the last few years. In March 2023, a group of students staged a sit-in at Beacon House after the university decided to renew its license to test “a total of 4,000 rodents for a further five years”.

In March this year, the university’s decision to turn down an offer of £24,000 from PETA to drop the practice faced criticism, and shortly after a demonstration took place outside Beacon by a “mad scientist”.

PETA has critiqued how Bristol Uni is “one of the last remaining institutions in the UK to still conduct these cruel, obsolete tests – and in the largest numbers”.

Over the summer, the campaign continued, with an ambush of a reception hosted by Professor Evelyn Welch in Hong Kong, as well as more notable figures speaking out on the matter.

Anjelica Huston, an American actress most known for her role as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family, sent the vice-chancellor a letter last month, urging her to end the forced swim test.

This comes after other celebrities, including Will Poulter, Joanna Lumley, Mark Rylance and Richard E. Grant, have all urged the university to stop this practice.

A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “We recognise there are differing views about the use of animals in research, including some concerns around whether it is ethical.

“The University of Bristol has a successful track record of translating scientific discoveries into real-world advances. The majority of our biomedical research uses non-animal methods for example computer models, cells grown in the laboratory or human volunteers. When these methods are not suitable to address the scientific gaps, and therefore only when absolutely necessary, we use animals in research to improve our understanding of health and disease in both humans and animals. This includes cardiovascular and cancer research, diseases associated with infection and immunity and, in the case of forced swimming, advances in the understanding of stress-related disorders.

“We are committed to a culture of openness and transparency regarding the research carried out here and make publicly available short summaries of all the projects approved at the University. Details relating to the number of animals used annually and case studies illustrating the types of research undertaken are provided on the University’s website. We keep up to date with the latest thinking on all aspects of research using animals (including advances in welfare) and have robust and thorough ethical review processes in place for every project.”

Points of clarification/further information:

• The University does not use forced swimming procedures to model depression or to screen antidepressants.
• The purpose of the research carried out in Bristol is to study the neurobiology of stress. The Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB) for the University has reviewed the proposed research and provided ethical approval because non-animal alternatives do not exist, and the work is important in building our fundamental understanding of the effects of stress on the brain.
• The research programme is also peer-reviewed by the Grant awarding body. The conclusions of the AWERB are aligned with the recent Animal Sciences Committee report on forced swimming and the response to this report by Lord Sharpe.

More information, specifically about the use of the forced swim test can be found on our website.

Vice-Chancellor Evelyn Welch was approached for a comment. 

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Featured image via X @PETA