Noel Gallagher’s ex-wife Meg Mathews, 59, condemns ‘cruel’ use of beagles for animal testing as she leads protest outside dog breeding facility

Meg Mathews said today that she had experienced: ‘horror that will never be forgotten’ after visiting a protest camp outside a dog breeding facility.

Mathews, 59, the ex-wife of Oasis star Noel Gallagher, wept as she described ‘hearing the screams’ of around 1,000 beagles who are housed at a facility in Cambridgeshire where they are bred for testing in UK laboratories.

She said: ‘The sound, the smell, was heartbreaking. I have never witnessed so much cruelty in one place.’

Mathews is campaigning for the release of the beagles from the MBR Acres, a breeding facility which supplies beagles for scientific testing.

She also spoke out about government plans to criminalise protests at all animal testing facilities, which could come into law as soon as next week.

The government has proposed an amendment to the Public Order Act to classify animal testing sites as ‘key national infrastructure’, alongside airports, roads, railways. If approved, anyone seen ‘interfering’ with animal testing operations could be arrested and sentenced to up to 12 months in prison, along with an unlimited fine.

Mathews said: ‘The reasoning for the change is that the government said that MBR Acres is a centre of national security crucial to pandemic planning but dogs aren’t used to develop Covid vaccines and animals can’t get Covid.’

She added: ‘It’s time to move on from outdated and cruel practices. There are up to 1,000 beagles in a shed, with no human contact. Once they have been experimented on, they are all killed.

‘They cry 24 hours a day, it hits you like a knife to your heart.’ It was Mathews first visit to the site, which is a 6.5 hour journey from her home in Cornwall.

Campaigners are gathering a petition calling for an end to testing on dogs and other animals for development of products for human use which they plan to present to parliament.

They say that results from animal experiments cannot be translated accurately to humans, hence why 92 – 96 per cent of the drugs deemed safe and effective in animal testing fail during human clinical trials. Campaigners also point to the availability of modern, humane, non-animal research methods that give human relevant results.

Protestors established a tented presence known as ‘Camp Beagle’ outside the perimeter fence and have been living there continuously for seven years.

Mathews has been involved in the campaign to free the beagles since 2021, when she found posts from the ‘Camp Beagle’ campaigners on Instagram. Before that she was involved with the charity event Pup Aid and also visited 10 Downing Street three times to lobby for the introduction in 2020 of ‘Lucy’s Law’ which aimed to end puppy farming.

Mathews said: ‘I have always been concerned with animal rights and I get that from my Mum. She wouldn’t use Johnson’s baby shampoo on me because Johnson’s had tested in on rabbits and when I was little she told me that hundreds of rabbits had suffered by having shampoo dropped in their eyes to test it.

‘She died ten years ago but I still remember that. I have never worn fur because of what she said about fur farming.

‘I was raised to love animals. When I was at school my parents took us out for a year and we lived in a van and went on a safari through southern Africa – Namibia, Botswana, Angola.

‘I’m the kind of person who would jump into a swimming pool to try and save a bee. When Noel and I lived in Primrose Hill I would walk the dogs and always pick earthworms off the path.

‘These dogs live in cages on a concrete floor in a shed lit only by fluorescent light. Feeding is automated. The runts of the litter are always killed. 

‘They have a licence to bleed them and to sell the blood, organs and skin. If this was your neighbour, the police would come around and lock them up but this is all overseen by the Home Office and nobody is allowed in.’

A Camp Beagle spokesperson said: ‘We are incredibly grateful to Meg for standing with us and the beagles. Her long term support has helped shine a spotlight on this issue and brings us closer to freedom for the MBR beagles.’

Kate Salmon, Campaign manager at the Naturewatch Foundation, said: ‘The UK Government’s use of parliamentary process to push through an addition to the Public Order Act 2023, essentially banning protests at any facility linked to animal testing, is aggressive and underhanded. 

‘There has been no genuine consultation to assess the impact on people, and the proposal contradicts the published “Strategy to phase out animal testing”, released only a few days prior to this law change coming to light in November 2025.

‘It has been said openly that it is to keep the industry happy. We have raised serious concerns about the implications of this amendment, including the potential to criminalise peaceful protesters for exercising their right to speak out on topics they believe in. 

‘This is far more extensive than animal welfare, and it isn’t about being against animal testing; it’s about believing in democracy. 

‘These facilities they’re aiming to protect aren’t often known, with members of the public largely unaware of what they are or where they are. 

‘How can the public protest against anything if they don’t know if the building nearby is protected by an aggressive law? We continue to work with MPs and Peers to halt this Public Order Act 2023 amendment and encourage everyone to raise this issue immediately with their local MP.’