ROWS of rabbits restrained in stocks, bags of dead mice and a mouse having its neck broken on the corridor floor.

These disturbing images provide a rare glimpse inside a controversial Hampshire laboratory.

They were captured on a secret camera by an investigator who worked undercover at Wickham Laboratories for eight months this year.

The anonymous investigator, a member of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), posed as a member of staff from January until October.

She wanted to show the reality of life – and death – inside the Winchester Road laboratory, which originally opened as a one-man veterinary practice in 1954.

BUAV claim the footage shows creatures suffering cruel deaths and has called for the Government to withdraw the facility’s licence to carry out experiments on animals.

The Home Office says it takes the allegations seriously and that it will thoroughly examine the evidence.

The Liberal Democrat MP for Winchester, Mark Oaten, whose constituency includes Wickham, told the Daily Echo he would also look into the findings.

“I am happy to meet with the BUAV, take a look at the evidence and, if necessary, take it up with the Home Office,” Mr Oaten said.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Echo last night, Wickham Laboratories defended its practices and refuted allegations that a conflict of interest had compromised animal safety.

Chris Bishop, technical director at Wickham, said the laboratory had been subjected to at least two other similar undercover stings in 1993 and 2005. He also labelled the language used in BUAV’s report as “deliberately provocative and anthropomorphic”.

At the centre of BUAV’s claims is that their undercover worker witnessed thousands of mice each month being used to test a product called Dysport. It contains botulinum toxin, more commonly known as Botox. Animal testing for cosmetic products is banned, but BUAV claim Dysport is now being used as an “off-label”

wrinkle-easing alternative to Botox. Mr Bishop insisted botulinum toxin was used to treat many medical conditions, primarily related to muscle relaxtion, such as facial spasms.

“It has successfully been used to treat cerebral palsy, which affects one in 400 children born in the UK. It is also used to treat some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease,” he said.

Each batch of botulinum toxin has to be tested for safety by law. The method used is the highly controversial LD50 potency test. In this test, mice are injected with different concentrations of botulinum toxin and the concentration is determined at which 50 per cent of the mice die.

The secret film shows how the mice were injected in the abdomen and within hours signs of poisoning appears. They are seen struggling to walk properly and some have difficulty breathing before eventually suffocating to death.

After several days of tests, the number of mice still alive was counted and an LD50 calculated.

All remaining mice were killed at the end of the experiment, known as a “humane endpoint”, either by gassing or by breaking their necks.

BUAV claim their film shows some mice left writhing after their backs were mistakenly broken. However, Mr Bishop said: “We do not see mice ‘writhing’, but twitching, which is a reflex after death.”

Records seen by the investigator show 41,088 mice were used in botulinum toxin tests between January and June this year and that on one day, in July, 989 mice were killed.

BUAV believe their findings make a mockery of claims that animals are only used as a last resort for vital medical research and that suffering is kept to a minimum. BUAV’s director of special projects Sarah Kite said: “Our shocking findings show that crude, archaic and extremely cruel animal tests are still allowed in the UK, even when an alternative test exists and animal testing is not required by official bodies.”

Wickham Laboratories conceded that alternative methods were available to test the toxin, but said that to refer to them as “validated” was “misleading and disingenous”.

In another of the most common experiments, staff were filmed injecting rabbits with drugs in experiments known as pyrogenicity tests.

The tests are to see whether the substance is contaminated and causes fevers. The rabbits are injected in an ear vein and then have a temperature probe inserted up to 7.5cm into their rectum. BUAV say they were immobilised in plastic stocks for “many hours at a time” for tests that, although licensed by the Government, are not required under international pharmaceutical testing standards.

In the first six months of the year, 944 of these procedures were carried out on Wickham’s colony of 100 rabbits, BUAV said.

Mr Bishop said all the cages complied with official guidelines and that each rabbit was given exercise twice a week, as well as bedding, food and water. He conceded some damage could be caused through repeated injecting in the ear vein, but said: “Rabbit health records show that none of the colony of rabbits is suffering from such damage.”

Nonetheless, a Hampshire animal rights activist believes many residents would be shocked that thousands of animals are being experimented on in the quiet market town.

“They are exceptionally disturbing images,”

Stop Wickham Animal Testing (SWAT) spokesman Jeanette McClunan said.

“We were aware that this is what is going on, but we needed the evidence to highlight it. Now we have got it, we are going to use in every way possible to make the public aware of what is going on.”

SWAT has staged a long-running campaign for the closure of the laboratory and on Wednesday afternoon held the first in a series of planned demonstrations outside the labs.

Another veteran campaigner, Helen Nelson, from Gosport, added: “The images are terrible, but it shows great courage on behalf of the person who carried out the investigation.”

As well as throwing the spotlight on Wickham practices, BUAV allege there is a conflict of interest by the company’s founder, William Cartmell, who is also the official vet in charge of overseeing the welfare of the animals used for testing and a big shareholder in the firm.

Wickham last night said no evidence existed of conflict of interest and said Mr Cartmell’s “professional duties were not compromised by motivation of financial gains”.

Mr Cartmell undertakes regular weekly inspections and is on site to provide quick treatment or advice.

“Several veterinary surgeons have undertaken this locum duty over the years and they have never made any criticism of the health and welfare of the animals or the housing conditions,”

Mr Bishop said.