ANIMAL rights extremists are believed to be responsible for causing damage estimated at £1 million in arson attacks on a dairy and a poultry farm, police said yesterday.
The burnt-out remains of lorries at the Unigate dairy in Oxford
Seventeen lorries were destroyed after incendiary devices were placed under them at the Unigate dairy in Oxford last night. Police had to evacuate a nearby campsite until the fire was extinguished. The 350 campers were allowed to return. In another attack half an hour earlier at Tadmartin Poultry, at Thorpe Way Industrial Estate, Banbury, Oxon, four vehicles were destroyed.
Det Supt Euan Read, leading the hunt for the arsonists, said: "These attacks have all the hallmarks of animal rights extremists and were reckless and wanton acts of vandalism. We condemn whole-heartedly direct action of this kind and are pleased and relieved that nobody was injured." Earlier, police had arrested 20 animal rights protesters in Witney who staged an anti-vivisection protest attended by at least 400 people over the nearby Hillgrove cat farm, where animals are bred for experiments.