Why it matters: The demonstration connects Ipswich to a national campaign targeting companies with alleged links to MBR Acres, which breeds beagles for medical research.
Twenty protesters from the MBR Suppliers campaign entered the Stericycle waste facility building next to Ipswich Hospital on Friday afternoon, demanding a meeting with senior management over alleged business relationships between the waste company and MBR Acres
What the activists allege: The campaigners claim Stericycle collects and incinerates dead dogs from the Cambridgeshire facility, and that energy from this process heats the hospital. They displayed a banner reading "Ipswich Hospital Powered By Dead Puppies" during their three-hour demonstration.
According to the activists, MBR Acres breeds 2,000 dogs annually for laboratory research. They allege these animals undergo "violent toxicology experiments" before being killed, and claim the facility has a "terminal bleeding licence" to harvest blood and organs.
The group also alleges that Stericycle collects this material "often in unmarked vans" for incineration at the Ipswich site.
The wider campaign: Activists claim their boycott campaign has persuaded nearly 40 companies to cut ties with MBR Acres, including energy firms, Pets at Home, and Morrisons. The group staged a similar protest at a Stericycle facility in Kent two weeks ago, resulting in three arrests.
What they're saying: East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Ipswich Hospital, declined to comment on any of the claims made by activists, but issued a statement confirming that "the protest took place outside an external organisation on the hospital site, which was managed by police colleagues, and did not have an impact on patient care," and that all clinical services "ran as usual".
Stericycle and MBR Acres did not respond to requests for comment.
The bottom line: The activists say protests will continue until Stericycle ends its alleged relationship with MBR Acres. It remains unclear if Ipswich Hospital is indeed using energy generated from the incineration of dogs used for scientific research.
