PROTESTERS will take to Hull's streets on Saturday campaigning against plans for a major East Riding facility to breed beagles for experiments.

Speeches by anti-vivisection activists in Queen's Gardens at noon will be followed by a march through the city centre.

US-owned B&K Universal's application to breed up to 2,000 dogs in Grimston, Holderness, was refused permission in June.

The company appealed and a final decision is due to be taken this month by the Government's Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.

National Anti-Vivisection Alliance Chairman Luke Steele said: "We, as a nation of animal-lovers, cannot allow something of this nature to be constructed.

"Medical research is supposed to be stepping into the future, not striding back to the past."

When East Riding Council planning committee rejected the bid in June last year it said the company had not given enough information about traffic safety measures.

Protesters had thronged to County Hall in Beverley, many carrying banners or in fancy dress.

But councillors pointed out moral issues about animal experiments were not planning matters, so they could not be considered by the committee.

Immediately after the rejection decision, B&K Universal general manager Roy Sutcliffe vowed to fight on to secure permission.

The company hopes to demolish the majority of its existing site and construct four new buildings to house the dogs.

Mr Sutcliffe said properly monitored animal experiments are permitted in the UK because they are vital for medical research.

More than 28,000 people have signed a petition organised by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), calling for the plan to be refused on moral grounds.

BUAV chief executive Michelle Thew said: "There is widespread public concern about the use of dogs in research, which is reflected in the large number of people who have signed the BUAV's petition objecting to B&K's plans.

"The breeding industry is nothing short of a production line, the dogs are treated as products, bred to suffer and die in laboratories."