Meg Mathews said today that she had experienced: 'horror that will never be forgotten' after visiting a protest camp outside a dog breeding facility.

Mathews, 59, the ex-wife of Oasis star Noel Gallagher, wept as she described 'hearing the screams' of around 1,000 beagles who are housed at a facility in Cambridgeshire where they are bred for testing in UK laboratories.

She said: 'The sound, the smell, was heartbreaking. I have never witnessed so much cruelty in one place.'

Mathews is campaigning for the release of the beagles from the MBR Acres, a breeding facility which supplies beagles for scientific testing.

She also spoke out about government plans to criminalise protests at all animal testing facilities, which could come into law as soon as next week.

The government has proposed an amendment to the Public Order Act to classify animal testing sites as 'key national infrastructure', alongside airports, roads, railways. If approved, anyone seen 'interfering' with animal testing operations could be arrested and sentenced to up to 12 months in prison, along with an unlimited fine.

Mathews said: 'The reasoning for the change is that the government said that MBR Acres is a centre of national security crucial to pandemic planning but dogs aren't used to develop Covid vaccines and animals can't get Covid.'

She added: 'It's time to move on from outdated and cruel practices. There are up to 1,000 beagles in a shed, with no human contact. Once they have been experimented on, they are all killed.

Meg Mathews (second right), 59, the ex-wife of Oasis star Noel Gallagher, wept as she described 'hearing the screams' of around 1,000 beagles who are housed at a facility in Cambridgeshire where they are bred for testing in UK laboratories

Mathews is campaigning for the release of the beagles from the MBR Acres, a breeding facility which supplies beagles for scientific testing

'They cry 24 hours a day, it hits you like a knife to your heart.' It was Mathews first visit to the site, which is a 6.5 hour journey from her home in Cornwall.

Campaigners are gathering a petition calling for an end to testing on dogs and other animals for development of products for human use which they plan to present to parliament.

They say that results from animal experiments cannot be translated accurately to humans, hence why 92 – 96 per cent of the drugs deemed safe and effective in animal testing fail during human clinical trials. Campaigners also point to the availability of modern, humane, non-animal research methods that give human relevant results.

Protestors established a tented presence known as 'Camp Beagle' outside the perimeter fence and have been living there continuously for seven years.