AN ALLEGATION of animal abuse at Oxford University has been investigated by police after a monkey was apparently kept alive, in pain, after an experiment.

Details have emerged days after the university was granted an injunction against protesters who halted the construction of an animal testing centre.

Thames Valley Police said that it completed an investigation yesterday into a complaint. The Crown Prosecution Service decided that there were insufficient grounds to proceed with a prosecution.

This is thought to be the first police investigation into an issue of animal welfare at the university. The Times has learnt that the laboratory vet wanted the animal put out of its misery, but was said to have been refused on the ground that the animal was an asset.

A Home Office inspector was contacted by the vet and ordered that the monkey should be put down. A report on the incident was sent to the police. A police spokesman said: “Thames Valley Police received an allegation that an animal may have been caused unnecessary suffering due to a delay in following veterinary advice to humanely kill the animal. This matter has been investigated. The delay amounted to approximately 90 minutes during which time the animal was under veterinary supervision and medication.”

A spokeswoman for the university said that staff had detected illness in an animal being used in biomedical research. Vets diagnosed an infection and the animal was treated with antibiotics but did not respond quickly, so euthanasia was recommended.

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