“They drained every last drop of blood from some beagle puppies.” That harrowing claim now echoes in a British courtroom, as the defense enters its most gripping phase in a trial that could redefine the line between compassion and criminality.

At Cambridge Crown Court, 18 animal rights activists from Animal Rising are being tried (in consecutive trials due to the large number of defendants) after they openly rescued 20 beagle puppies from MBR Acres — a Cambridgeshire facility that reportedly breeds up to 2,000 dogs a year for animal testing. The activists filmed their rescue, wore no masks, and later turned themselves in. Their defense? Honesty, transparency, and moral duty.

Ben Newman, 35, took the stand and did not hold back. He told jurors that some puppies were "bled to death" under the facility’s legal “bleeding license.” He claimed MBR Acres can drain healthy dogs and sell their blood when it’s no longer “economical” to keep them alive. “It’s a largely self-perpetuating industry,” he said, one that involves feeding animals chemicals “and letting them die.”
Newman cited modern, 21st Century alternatives to animal testing — like organ-on-a-chip — and reminded the jury: “In three years, not a single person I’ve spoken to has said what we did was wrong.”

Nathan McGovern, 26, representing himself, described the moment everything changed for him: reading a Daily Mirror article that “viscerally disturbed” him. Though he once saw animal testing as a “necessary evil,” deeper research led him to believe it’s a “sham.”

Like Newman, McGovern described the blood-harvesting process in painful detail: “Hooking an IV line from the dog and draining every last drop from the animal.”

Activist Hannah Hunt, 26, painted a picture of nonviolent resistance. “There’s not a day I don’t think about the puppies we rescued,” she said. “And not a day I don’t think about the ones we left behind.”

MBR Acres insists it acts within the law and adheres to government regulations. The company is invited on any time to comment.

The trial continues under Judge Philip Grey — but in the eyes of many, this is no longer just a legal case. It’s a moral reckoning.

Now, let’s go LIVE to England and get the very latest from our reporter who has been in the courtroom Claudia Penna Rojas. UnchainedTV’s Jane Velez-Mitchell leads the expert panel coverage.