KILLED BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY
REST IN PEACE FELIX
Today it is with much regret that we must inform everyone of the death of Felix. The information we have been given is that he has been killed by those that tormented and tortured him for almost a year. ( Click here to read Felix's story and download resources)
It is difficult to comprehend the type of person that can perform barbaric and gruesome procedures on a living sentient creature for an entire year. This person, if that is indeed the correct word for such an individual (monster, would probably be more apt), is capable of looking into the eyes of an innocent non human victim everyday but yet is incapable of feeling pangs of remorse or even sympathy with regards to the pain and suffering they are inflicting on an individual capable of a full range of emotions from fear, to pain through to happiness.
Unfortunately Felix would certainly have experienced no happiness in the last year of his sad life at Oxford University, but if truth be told, he probably was never able to experience happiness or any sort of joy in his entire life. It now appears that he was born in a cage. He lived in a cage and he ultimately suffered in a cage before being put to death alone in a cage.
Let’s not forget, Oxford University have the audacity to label themselves as an institution of ‘academic excellence’! However, the reality is that the life Felix was forced to endure has nothing to do with 'academia', but everything to do with arrogance; an arrogance of individuals who hold life so cheap, that they can dictate not just how and when to end a sentient life, but how much suffering they can and will inflict upon that life.
Despite what university representatives might say, Felix's final few months would have been filled with pain, torment, and much, much suffering. There’s no hiding this fact and people should be made aware as to what exactly Felix went through in his final months. We can now disclose that Felix had the top of his skull sliced off, a procedure that has been documented through human and non human primate research as extremely painful. Electrodes were forced into his brain and then he was fitted with a cranial chamber (a box like contraption that sits on top of the skull). His pain must have been unbearable but he had no one to comfort him. Just a barren cage surrounded him, there were no comforts. There was no kin to cuddle up to, to ease his pain. He was alone until the day his torturers had finished with him; the day they put him to death.
Felix is dead now, and it’s important that we remember him. We have looked at the photos of him on numerous occasions and have been lost in his sad expression, his beautiful face. We will never forget him. Cry if you want to. Don’t be ashamed to mourn his sad, sad life. At SPEAK everyone has shed a tear for poor Felix. We had for months now been fighting to save Felix but we couldn’t save him despite all the efforts we put into getting him released. However, the fight has not been in vain: it continues.
Yes, by all means shed a tear for Felix, but this is far from the end of Felix's story. This is just the beginning. We know more today than we ever knew about the project Felix was being used and abused for. We now know that Felix was just the first victim of a 5 year project that began in 2006; a project that will be using, abusing and killing 2 macaque monkeys every year. The project will run for 5 years, which means that it still has about 4 years to run.
From the beginning of our Fighting for Felix campaign we have maintained that although Felix was an individual he was also a symbol. A symbol for not just the 1000's of animals dying inside Oxford University every year but the hundreds of millions being sacrificed in a fraudulent scientific practice worldwide. We still have everything to fight for, indeed we owe it to Felix not just to keep fighting for the animals but to redouble our efforts, and that’s exactly what we will be doing at SPEAK. First and foremost we must bring to an end the project that was responsible for the suffering and death of Felix. Remember this, 8 macaque monkeys will be suffering the same fate as Felix over the next 4 years if we don’t stop the vivisectors at Oxford University.
Join with us. This battle is far from over. The animals need you and we need you by our side to fight the good fight. Let Felix's memory live on in all of us as we battle to end the crime that is vivisection.
Click here to read Felix's Project Licence
Felix: Victim of Oxford University