Brazilian Animal rights activists raided a laboratory in São Paulo, Brazil rescued where animals are subjected to horrific drug testing abuses, for the pharmaceutical industry liberating some from certain death by torture.

Members of the Animal Liberation Front in Brasil camped out Royal Institute, in São Roque, 70 km (43 miles) west of São Paulo, Brasil to protest against illicit practices of animal vivisecting and experimenting. Activists accuse Royal Institute of mistreating animals for pharmaceutical purposes, under Brasil's laxed legislation on animal rights.

Several activists had been protesting and denouncing claims from staff working at the Instituto that several dogs, Beagle breed, had been shaved, poked and amputated by alleged trained personnel to perform scientific experiments on behalf of pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies overseas.

Brazilians took to the internet, giving the hashtag #InstitutoRoyal nearly 90,000 mentions.

Took hundreds of Beagle dogs, rabbits and rats from the complex after claims that the lab was testing abuses on animals. Where animals were kept in terrible conditions and submitted to cruel and heinous tests and experiments. Six of the puppies had tumors or were mutilated,” and “the most surprising thing was a dog with no eyes”.

According to one activist I spoke with in Brazil, the protest began with about 40 people outside of Royal Institute because the lab had been accused of animal cruelty. The activists said they alerted police to the appalling conditions in which the animals at the Royal Institute were being kept captive, but they took no action.

After several days of wait the activists found out that the Instituto had made plans to move out the animals from the site. This prompted the activists to break into the facilities on the October 18 after they camped for several days outside the Instituto. As the crowd grew to about 150 people, they could hear the cries of the dogs. Some activists entered the building, opened the cages, and began rescuing them.

Activists broke into Royal Institute and released 178 beagles from certain death, with no opposition from the police on site. Now activists struggle to tell the truth against the mainstream media efforts to denigrate their actions and the usual political inertia and counter-information.

Nearly 178 beagle dogs were immediately taken to veterinary clinics in the area. They were found in filthy conditions. Some of them were mutilated and other had tumors. One dog had no eyes.

Since the rescue, Royal Institute has been shut down pending a government investigation. The lab says that even if police recapture stolen beagles, they will be put up for adoption.

These cases were documented by the activists with I-phones, cameras and eye witnesses. The dogs were eventually taken away by members and sympathizers of the Animal Liberation Front, including national tv celebrities, like Luisa Mell and Nicole Puzzi.

Photos and videos of the rescue operation, reporting that an anti-vivisection protest that began with a dozen or so demonstrators  prior to the raid on the lab. Most had their skins shaven and one was found frozen dead in liquid nitrogen.

Some of the activists returned to gather in front of the laboratory in November 13, to rescue rats for lab experiments and announced there would be further protests.

The dogs, rabbits and rats were used for testing pharmaceutical drugs and showed signs of abuse.

Activists intent on changing Brazil's law that allows animal use for scientific experimentation - regulated in accordance with international standards - found a sympathetic ear in Congressman Protegenes Queiroz, a member of the Communist Party of Brazil, who denounced the institute for "an atmosphere of torture that looked like a Nazi concentration camp." Queiroz set up a six-member congressional commission to study charges of animal abuse.

Silvia Ortiz, the institute's general manager, tried to reassure the public said, "Rats, mice, rabbits and dogs are used, notably the beagle breed ... given its genetic pattern and similarity with the human biology." Ortiz insisted the lab tests pharmaceuticals that help save human lives.

Brazilian media also reported lab officials insisted their testing and other activities are monitored by government health officials and comply with international norms.Officials from the lab called the raid and liberation "an act of terrorism."

The Animal Liberation Front in Brasil and their friends in Portugal are currently organizing a public protest against the Brazilian authorities and are organizing their support to camp outside every Brazilian Embassy in these two countries at least.

The AFL, Frente Antivivisseccionista do Brasil and other animal rights associations are struggling against time to promote the actions against every violation of animal rights in Brasil to push for more legislation at the Federal level, more accountability at the State levels and more awareness at the international level. The biggest concern right now is to make the international press aware of these efforts and communicate to the rest of the world the pain these animals are going through because of illegitimate and sometimes illegal practices by labs like Royal Institute.

This organized and successful initiative is currently being undermined in the mainstream press and some activists are struggling to keep the momentum going and spread the word about Royal Institute, their sponsors, their public subsidies, how they went unsupervised and still deny any excess violence against the animals that they use in scientific experiments.

The law in Brasil is very permissive about vivisectionist practices, and there are several recorded cases of abuse perpetrated to animals in captivity for scientific experiments in Brasil, sponsored by huge economic and international conglomerates that use these labs in Brasil to exploit animals outside the jurisdiction of their more accountable governments.

There are currently two petitions ongoing online (https://secure.avaaz.org/po/petition/MANIFESTATION_ROYAL_INSTITUTE/; and more information online at Frente Antivivisseccionista Brasil).