Ricky Gervais has launched a campaign calling for all animal experiments to be banned in the UK.

Along with fellow actor British Peter Egan, the Extras star is lobbying to have laboratory animals protected in the UK's Animal Welfare Act - which makes animal suffering illegal.

Egan has now launched a petition calling for the UK Government to make the suffering of lab animals punishable by law.

Sharing the petition on Twitter, Egan writes: It's in my heart I hope it’s in yours; please sign my Parliament Petition; laboratory animals must be included in the Animal Welfare Act, to ban horrific experiments on dogs & other animals.

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Also included in the tweet is a video of Gervais talking about his love of dogs, in which he described them as "amazing companions".

The petition comes after The Independent reported how a facility in Cambridgeshire has reportedly been breeding beagles to be sold off for chemicals and drugs testing.

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Protesters have since staged a demonstration outside of the site, called MBR Acres, which is accused of breeding up to 2,000 dogs per year to be sent for toxicology tests.

MBR Acres has denied allegations that it trains its puppies to be "laboratory-ready", but activists who said that they have been monitoring the site for a year detailed how they had witnessed "harrowing" scenes.

Per The Independent, Gervais said in a statement:

"I’m deeply shocked to learn that thousands of beautiful beagles are intensively bred, right here in the peace of the British countryside, for painful and terrifying toxicity experiments that are also now proven to entirely fail the search for human treatments and cures."

And despite the company saying that most of the experiments the animals undergo are "mild", per The Independent, protestors swarmed the facility, calling for the dogs to be rehomed.

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And a spokesperson from MBR Acres has stated: "Expert opinion on why animals are needed in research should be sought from the medicines regulator and scientists or organizations working in this field.

"These experiments form a small but crucial part of a wide range of applications from ecology work to investigations into human and animal diseases including those that led directly to the vaccines and treatments for Covid-19, cancer drugs, pet medicines and products labeled as safe for pets.

"We are proud of the role we play in supporting human and animal health regardless of the misconceptions of campaigners."

The Independent states that UK Government figures show that 4,340 dogs were used in procedures last year - of which 4,270 were conducted on beagles.

As of this writing, Egan's petition stands at 19,003 signatures. If you would like to sign it, click HERE.

This is certainly not the first time Ricky Gervais has spoken out against animal testing.

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Back in 2019, the actor and comedian spoke on Radio 5 Live about the issue, claiming: "It doesn't work - 93 percent of all experiments that work on animals then fail and are dangerous to humans, because the models don't work. Computer models work better than animal testing."

The Office star added: "It's propaganda because people who breed beagles make £1,000 or £2,000 per dog, universities get kick backs from farmer companies to do research... it doesn't work and it's cruel. You've got to end animal testing.

"Some people think, 'Oh yeah, but what about cancer and AIDS?' I understand that but there's no ambiguity about shampoo and cosmetics. That's mental - putting stuff in rabbits' eyes and torturing them to death. Don't get shampoo in your eyes, it stings, done."

Featured image credit: Sipa US / Alamy

Ricky Gervais is campaigning for all animal experiments to be banned