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Some viewers may find some of the following images disturbing,
particularly those involving animal abuse.
Activist Carlota Saorsa carried out an infiltration for 18 months
in an animal testing laboratory.
As of today, it is considered the longest one in history.
The facts presented in this film are completely real
and belong to an ongoing legal investigation.
To protect the image of some of the individuals involved,
their names, voices and some places have been altered.
To comply with European laws and witness protection regulations,
part of an interview has been reenacted.
Hi, it's me.
It's Carlota.
Sorry for disappearing,
but it all happened so fast, and I have to talk to you.
You already know my situation as a protected witness.
So, please,
after you listen to this message, delete it.
I don't trust this network at all.
In the coming days, I'll send you all the material
that I recorded over 18 months with a hidden camera.
I tried to document everything.
It's not just animal abuse.
You're going to hear about some very dark things going on.
Very powerful people are implicated.
So I hope you understand how risky and dangerous all this is.
Because it's dangerous for you too.
Give me a few days and I'll tell you how to reach me.
Keep an eye on your second phone, okay?
From now on, you can document everything.
Just tell the truth.
CAMP BEAGLE WYTON - UNITED KINGDOM
HORTALEZA STA. FERIA DE MADRID - AIRPORT
VIVOTECNIA TRES CANTOS - SPAIN
UNDERCOVER. INSIDE THE BUNKER
-You have the tickets, right, Pablo? -Yes.
When does it leave?
We leave in…
four hours.
Basically, since I don't know what we can record,
she's given me permission for…
For us to film as much as we can.
Okay. I have the tripod here.
-Shall we go? -Come on.
I mean, basically, the interview is because she's going undercover again.
So, since she'll disappear, I don't know…
How long will she disappear? Six or seven months again?
So…
in case something happens to her,
we have to document it ourselves…
That's all.
She gave me all the material.
I mean, I have about 7,000 files.
-Almost two years, you said? -Eighteen months.
LONDON 2024
Okay. I'm meeting her here in about ten minutes,
and I'm going to wait for her here on the bridge, okay?
If you want… She knows that I'll be…
That we'll be recording.
You can film from back there.
We'll meet up later by the Ferris wheel.
-Okay. -Good.
You and I go over there, Fer.
Let's go.
-Call me if you need anything. -Okay.
Carlota Saorsa is a protected witness in the open criminal case
against the animal experimentation lab known as "Vivotecnia."
In order to protect her identity,
an actress will be reenacting her interview.
All her statements and intentions
have been reproduced faithfully by the actress.
First of all, thank you for…
For granting us this interview.
You know I've wanted to interview you for a long time,
so I think I'm more nervous than you.
Well, first of all, thank you
for giving me this platform
and for wanting to tell
this story.
Let's start from the beginning.
Is there anything in your memory or your childhood that was
the catalyst, the driving force,
so to speak, that set you on this path?
No. I mean, I don't remember very well because
I was very little,
but I remember that my mother always told me
that ever since I was little,
I always had
a lot of empathy for animals, for…
Well, generally anything I saw as defenseless
I don't remember it, but she tells me that one time
I saw a pig being slaughtered
and tried to save it.
I don't know. I guess that day something kind of already
germinated in me, you know? Something changed.
At 14 or 15 years old, I was in high school,
and I do remember that I started to take an active interest
in human rights, in feminism.
FAMILY - CAPITALISM
I'd lock myself in the public library
and seek out information about people
who had changed the world.
The reality of their struggle, of their civil disobedience.
ANIMAL DEFENSE
That's where I found role models
who are still role models to this day,
like Angela Davis, Rosa Parks,
Emma Goldman or Jane Goodall.
I remember, one day, I suddenly understood
that if I really wanted to fight for the animals,
I had to really take it seriously.
VETERINARY CLINICAL ASSISTANT
I enrolled in veterinary school. I became a vet tech.
I worked in lots of hospitals.
I took a ton of courses and I was also involved in
sanctuaries, learning to take care of animals.
Even being in the hospitals, I felt I was missing something.
I wasn't doing those things that I'd seen my role models do.
I quit my job and went to Ireland to learn English.
DUBLIN 2010
And it was in Ireland where I first
encountered the movement as such, you know?
The activists.
Everything opened up for me.
I remember I got some pamphlets and went to a cybercafe
and started looking up information about
the fight for animal rights and such.
And that's where I found the video of Britches,
who is a macaque that they freed
from a lab in the United States.
FOOTAGE PROVIDED BY PETA
It gave me hope, because I saw there were people
who were filming, who were helping,
freeing animals.
So, I don't know. That video signified a before-and-after situation.
And that's how I got to know the ALF.
The Animal Liberation Front.
ALF - JULY 1985
When you returned to Spain, did you go straight to direct action?
I mean, I did some,
but mostly, I gave support from the outside.
That's where I meat a colleague who went by the name Kurda.
He mainly does undercover investigations on farms.
I came to Madrid specifically to be closer to Kurda.
I got a job at a veterinary hospital.
I had the night shift.
But, of course, it wasn't a lot of hours.
I had to find another job to support myself.
And that's how I was looking on the Internet
and I found the job listing.
"Job available for a veterinary technician
in a leading animal experimentation lab."
I did a quick Internet search.
ASSISTANT VETERINARY TECHNICIAN
And I saw it was a "CRO," a contract research organization.
They worked with rats, mice, rabbits, pigs,
dogs and primates.
So the first thing I did was calling Kurda.
Hey, man. Look at what I sent you, I found it while I was looking for work.
I'm freaking out. Tell me when you see it, okay?
Okay, bye.
Getting into an experimental research lab
is practically impossible.
But I felt I had the responsibility.
Just for the act of doing it, sending a résumé, so I sent it.
CARLOTA SAORSA - VETERINARY ABOUT ME
And the next day, while I was still looking for work,
the phone rang.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
-Yes? -Hello.
I'm calling from Vivotecnia. We received your résumé
and we think you fit the profile.
I froze for a few seconds.
Yes, go on.
All of a sudden, I was having a phone interview,
unprepared, improvising.
I see your educational background and it's in line with the position,
so tell me what your experience was like at the animal hospital.
My experience was good. Normal, good.
-I love animals, really. -Well, here…
We work very hard here. We work with animals,
and we take our work very seriously.
Yes, I understand Yes, I understand perfectly.
Yes, no problem at all.
Within a few days they'll call you to schedule
an in-person interview.
Sure, perfect. Yes, of course.
And she hung up.
I was in shock.
The first thing I did, obviously, was to tell Kurda.
Wow, man, they called me. So crazy!!
I'm so nervous.
It's really hard to get picked
If I get it… you'll support me?
Of course
I couldn't stop thinking about it.
Because I started looking on the Internet for reference points.
Of course, I didn't know
any examples of anyone who had infiltrated a lab.
What I was sure of was that I couldn't be myself.
I had to invent a character.
My way of speaking, my way of moving, of dressing.
They weren't going to hire me.
I had to become this character.
At the time, I never thought that this character would remain
with me for so long.
Do you remember the moment you walked through
-the doors for the interview? -Yes, I remember it perfectly.
VIVOTECNIA TRES CANTOS - MADRID
We were walking through super-long corridors,
with an electronic keycard opening and closing doors.
There wasn't a single window to the outside.
That's why I called it "The Bunker."
Was it a normal interview, or…
Yeah. About my availability,
whether I had a car, whether I had a pet.
And she made a couple of notes on her computer, got up and said…
Okay, Carlota, that's all for me.
But now, two colleagues are coming to continue the interview. You know,
-about more technical aspects. -Of course.
At the time it seemed strange, but it did give me time
to breathe and relax.
Hello.
Who came?
Rebeca and her assistant came,
and they peppered me with technical questions
and questions about my experience at the veterinary hospital.
I imagine what they wanted
was to corroborate that my résumé was true,
and I obviously responded well to all the questions.
They even asked me some questions in English
to test my technical and scientific English.
And I also had to take a technical and theoretical test
in front of them, formulas and all.
It was difficult, but I did well.
And at the end of the interview,
it did get a little more tense.
Look, I'm going to be honest with you.
We do experimentation on animals here.
Do you have any issue with that?
No. No, I'm in favor of animal experimentation.
Very good.
Wait here a few minutes. A colleague will come to show you the lab.
Okay. Thank you.
I don't know if I was prepared
to face that I didn't know how I was going to react.
And, well, while I was processing it,
a very tall man came in and said,
"Come with me, I'll show you the labs."
As soon as entered, I heard the cries,
the howling of the dogs.
And I also remember that it smelled.
There was a stench of piss and shit.
Fuck, it was shocking because there were four corridors
full of cages, full of puppies
who were desperate to get out, to get through the bars.
And just when I thought we were leaving, he said,
"Wait, now we're going to show you
the primate lab."
It was like, "Shit."
I was scared, but I was also excited
because I thought, "They wouldn't show me this if they aren't hiring me."
The first thing I saw was a macaque with alopecia.
I imagine it was due to stress.
There were no windows to the outside.
It was like you were breathing fear there. I couldn't even look at them.
I wanted to cry,
but I couldn't.
I went home, sat on my couch.
I didn't even have time to change
or talk to Kurda, when suddenly, the phone rang and it was Marina…
Yes?
…to tell me me I was hired,
and they were scheduling a date for me to sign the contract.
Great, I'll send the contract in an email and we'll meet in a few days.
-Great, okay, thanks. -You're welcome.
I don't know how I did it…
but I was inside.
So, you get in and right away you go to the animal facilities?
No, no. I mean,
I thought I would, that I'd go straight to the animal facilities.
DAY 1 FIRST DAY IN THE BUNKER
But, no. I spent the first days mostly reading PDFs
and taking exams in the office and at home.
Part of the training was to obtain three licenses
at the health authority of Madrid.
It was part of the contract. I needed them to work as a tech.
So I started to balance studying with being a caregiver.
I was very discreet.
Keeping a low profile.
I observed my colleagues. Especially in the cafeteria.
I understood I had to learn really well
who were in charge of the studies, the most qualified technicians.
I mean, typical stuff you'd do in the first days at any job.
Intuitively, apart from analyzing the people,
I knew that I had to understand how the lab functioned.
Where the security cameras were, the doors,
the schedules, the security shifts.
There were security measures all around.
Let's say I made a kind of map of The Bunker,
who was who and where everything was.
The thing I didn't know how to do
was how to record images inside. I didn't really know.
Because by observing, I noticed that the animal facilities
didn't allow cell phones,
even though it's true that some people did sneak them in.
Obviously, I wasn't going to risk that.
It wasn't feasible to go in there with my phone.
So, I started to research,
to look for recording devices.
I asked Kurda, who knew more about all that.
But everything he found or told me about
were "button" devices.
And given the protocols of animal labs,
taking off and putting on lab coats and such,
it wasn't feasible.
If I wanted to record everything and film
a procedure on site, happening in the moment,
it had to be a camera that I had on me the whole time.
And that's how I got the idea of the glasses.
So what do we do with the footage? Do I give it to you?
Should we meet weekly or so and I'll give it to you?
DAY 60 MEETING WITH KURDA
Every two weeks is better.
Let's meet in the parking lot at the mall by your house.
-Perfect. -I'll get into your car.
Okay? No one else can get the footage.
-Of course not. -And when you bring me something,
you have to be alone.
You shouldn't be inside more than two months.
Hey. I'm doing what I can.
I'm still getting situated. I have to…
-I have to work. -Yeah, okay.
Record as much as you can,
and then we'll see about sending the footage to the media.
-Okay. -I'll keep on going.
Thanks, Kurda.
If you need anything,
-call me, okay? -Okay?
Bye, thanks.
I normally wear glasses,
so it occurred to me…
A silly idea, really.
That I would change my glasses because I didn't want to break
my everyday glasses, because they were expensive,
so I'd wear another pair,
just in case they might get broken while handling animals.
And it worked.
Do you remember the first day you recorded?
-What was that first moment like? -Yes.
The first time I filmed was cleaning the cages.
DAY 65 FIRST UNDERCOVER RECORDING
I was super nervous.
The whole time I thought they were going to catch me.
-Yes. -I'm getting in too.
You're getting inside too?
The one closest to the door. The same door. Got it?
Okay, go get in there.
Now let's see it.
Come on, let's go! Over there!
Get out of there!
Over there!
You go to the other one.
Come on! Come on!
Let's go over there!
Let's go, let's go, let's go!
And I remember
the noise from the dogs desperate to get out of the cages.
Crying, wagging their tails. They were desperate to get out.
There were puppies not even a year old,
and they had three months of study left
before they'd be destroyed.
And that's when, for the first time, I saw
a little dog, Number 32.
She was sitting, with her head against the bars, looking lost.
I don't know, she was…
She wasn't like the others.
Like she was aware that she was there to die.
I'd never seen such a sad look.
COPYING TO "BACKUP"
TIME REMAINING: 2 MINUTES CANCEL
Then I'd come home, transfer the footage, make a copy,
make some notes about the images I'd filmed in a notebook.
And then, every two weeks, I'd hand over the footage to Kurda
and he'd sort through it.
Lots of times, the cameras would fail, the battery would die
or the recording was bad.
It was very frustrating because I felt like I'd lost a day.
Months went by, and I felt more comfortable filming.
More relaxed, more confident, but, well,
the feeling that they were going to catch me was always there.
And although the stress was really high, I mean…
Okay.
…I managed to do overtime and work weekends,
which allowed me to film alone
and also spend time with Number 32.
It was strange, because from the beginning,
it was as if she knew who I was.
-See, man? You see. -No!
What you're filming isn't usable.
That's because I'm still a caregiver. I haven't started working on studies yet.
Whatever you say, but half of what you've recorded is useless.
It's out of focus. You have to film with more purpose.
What do you mean?
You have to frame it better, damn it!
Stay still, damn it! You're moving half the time.
But how can I stay still? I'm working.
-I'm working, damn it! -No, damn it!
If that's the footage you can get, you ought to end the infiltration.
Because at this rate, you'll get us caught.
-And I don't want to get arrested. -Okay, enough. Stop it.
Go to hell!
Look, if you think it's worth it just to get these images--
This isn't helping me.
You're not helping me like this.
I'm the one who's inside, okay?
Yeah, but it's not worth the trouble just to get this shit.
-That's how it is. -Sure.
-Go think about it. -Fine. You think about it.
Come on. You're breaking my car.
It was like every day was the same.
Each day seemed too much like every other.
I woke up at 6:30,
checked the camera batteries
and the backups I'd transferred the previous day.
I'd make a report for Kurda, send it to him. He never replied.
And then I'd drive an hour and a half to my job.
For a while I tried to film
like Kurda had asked me to, but it was impossible.
It would attract attention.
I had to act normal and keep working.
Try as I might,
I couldn't get the kind of footage he wanted.
That routine, generally, what was it like?
-Was there a lot of stress at work? -A lot.
I mean, if the environment was already so toxic and stressful…
it became even more tense,
because I noticed competition among my colleagues.
Because if they didn't choose you to do a study, they'd fire you.
I had to be 100% efficient
when they assigned me my first study.
I had to train quickly
with rats and rabbits, to give them the drug
orally, ocularly, intravenously, intramuscularly or via inhalers,
depending on the animal.
-It's not very soft, is it? -No.
Like…
I learned to mark the rats
by injecting… Tattooing them on their toes.
A little ink in contact with the blood.
Prick its toe.
It's a legal technique.
You've already killed it.
There are quite a few.
It also became very clear to me
that the person I had to get along with and get close to
in order to work as a tech was Rebeca,
who was the head of all the studies.
A very serious woman. She was very burnt out.
She had no sensitivity at all toward the animals.
She made that clear in everything she said.
I was really afraid of her.
She was the only one who I never dared to film in front of
because she might catch me.
If I was filming and she showed up, I stopped immediately.
DAY 135 RECEIVING BEAGLES FOR "STUDY XYYBC-5"
-We have eight. -Eight dogs, yeah. Let's go.
I'll get some gloves.
-This guy's heavy. -Yeah?
Yeah.
Animals didn't stop arriving, taking the place of the old ones.
Many, many animals were euthanized.
Oh, my God, the hallway. I don't know if they can go in yet?
The work was demanding,
but by working a lot,
I gained Rebeca's trust.
I knew Rebeca wanted
to put me to work with Tania's trusted team,
César and Raúl.
Tania didn't care about the animal,
its well-being, whether it suffered, whether it was distressed.
She also didn't care much about managing the team.
All she cared about
was the studies turning out well. That's it.
Number 32.
The sad girl.
The sad girl's not so sad.
It's true, she's got that little face.
I don't know now, but at first she was always sitting in the corner.
Yeah, she's always sitting in the corner.
I got the feeling
that Tania was starting to get suspicious of me.
As if she'd found out that I was treating the animals with care.
So I think that's why Tania assigned me
to euthanize 40 dogs. To test me.
DAILY TASKS AND COMPLETION OF STUDY XYYAA-1
To complete Study XYYAA-1, the team will perform the euthanasia.
What's up, man? Where were you?
I've been waiting two hours.
-What is it? -I was busy.
Busy how? What's this about?
I think they're following us.
What do you mean?
I saw several police cars in the area.
And there was one at the parking entrance.
I had to wait until they left to come in.
Fuck.
I have the feeling they're watching us.
-You didn't notice anything? -No.
No one followed you? You didn't leave your glasses or phone?
No, obviously not.
Last week, I talked to a trusted lawyer about our situation.
He warned me that if we're caught, we could go to prison.
I could get four to five years just as an accomplice.
And you'd get a lot more.
Don't you realize that if you keep filming,
sooner or later they'll catch you?
Look…
If you want us to stop, we'll stop,
but before I go, I want to ask that we plan a rescue.
We can't. No way. It's too dangerous.
You know it's important to me to save at least one life.
Even if it's just one.
If you do that, they're gonna discover us.
I don't care.
I'm not leaving that place without taking a single dog.
From that day on,
I didn't feel safe until I got home.
It was the first warning.
Fuck.
I'm going forward, I don't fear the consequences.
You're taking too many risks.
If you keep going, you'll have to kill and you'll never forgive yourself.
I know, but I have to earn their trust to get onto the studies
I was stuck.
The euthanasia date was getting closer and I was wondering
if I would be capable of doing it.
It was clear that if I didn't do it, I wouldn't get onto the studies
and they would fire me.
All the effort of going undercover would be for nothing.
But if I did it,
I would also be destroying my own principles.
Ever since I was little, I've fought to save animals' lives,
not to end them.
DAY 154 STUDY XYYAA-1 DOG EUTHANIZATIONS
I remember that day so well.
No one's prepared to kill 40 puppies at once.
My hands were shaking, I was shaking all over.
I'd known that litter since they arrived.
Tania took one of the puppies
and she gave it to me.
And she studied me as I did it.
So I…
I applied what I'd been taught and I did it.
It was a frenetic pace.
They'd take a dog, sedate it,
put it on the euthanization table. Then into the trash.
The remains, I mean.
They didn't even check that they were fully sedated, you know?
It was… I don't know, I couldn't breathe.
I mean, I…
I ran to the locker room, threw up a few times.
I felt…
I felt sick. I was a monster.
I'd done something I promised myself I'd never do when I was little.
Something died in me that day.
It's strange, isn't it? Because even though I was
so fucked up, they were happy with me.
It was as if I'd passed a test.
That's when I started working with them.
With Tania's team. César and Raúl.
We have to meet. I have lots of footage.
I'm on the team. I'm inside the studies.
Let's talk tomorrow in the parking lot.
I've been waiting for you for days.
Where are you? I'm worried.
Did something happen to you? I'm getting scared.
Sorry I couldn't come. The situation is compromised for us both.
You need more security.
The longer I was inside The Bunker,
the more alone I felt.
It took days to calm myself down.
And just when I was getting back into the rhythm,
I remember getting an email
that worried me a bit.
ADMINISTRATION - DAILY TASKS AND STUDY XYYAA-6 CONCLUSION
It was an email stating that new dogs were coming,
but in the same email, there was
the euthanization date of Number 32.
In two weeks, we will conclude Study XYYAA-6.
I didn't want to think about it. I read it and that was it.
Because what I had to do was
try not to get distracted and keep doing my job well
and not to think about it too much,
but it was hard. In fact, the following days,
I didn't dare visit her.
I was at my limit. I was exhausted. I was unwell.
It had been months since I'd seen my friends, my family.
MOM
I'd lost my sense of everything, right?
I didn't know who I was. I was unwell.
I decided that I had to…
I had to stop because I wasn't okay.
First, I had to…
I had to say goodbye to her, right?
And above all, ask her forgiveness
for not saving her.
I drafted a resignation email…
but I didn't send it.
SEND
Just as well that I didn't.
The next morning, I received an email from the lab…
saying that there would be the possibility of
adopting a dog from that study.
Being able to adopt was really unusual.
I mean, it didn't say which ones
or if I'd be able to choose, or if the drug company would choose.
I was nervous, I was paying attention to see
which numbered dogs were going to be able to be saved.
Which ones could be adopted.
And when I found out, my stomach leapt.
Because Number 32 was included.
DAILY TASKS AND ADOPTION OPPORTUNITY
…the opportunity to adopt the surplus dogs…
of numbers 20 to 40.
All that was left was for some colleague to also request an adoption,
because I couldn't do it alone.
If I was the only one to ask, I didn't want to raise suspicion.
ANIMAL ADOPTION CONTRACT
That same day, three colleagues applied for an adoption.
I sent you all an email.
Please, if you know anyone who wants to adopt…
How many are up for adoption?
-Twenty. -Twenty, meaning 20 for adoption.
-Twenty for adoption. -And when can they be adopted?
Now.
-Now? Oh, okay. -Because you put…
The next morning, the first thing I did was
send an email to the animal welfare veterinarian
to request the adoption of Number 32.
7:30 - 3:00 RECEPTION
I thought of Kurda and said, "I don't care what he thinks."
I had the opportunity
to save a life, and I was going to do it.
I mean, you can't imagine.
You can't imagine what it was like to pet her for the first time,
knowing that in a few days she'd be home with me.
It was the only moment of happiness in there.
The only one.
How did Kurda take it? What did he say?
He took it badly.
In fact, we argued.
But I didn't care. I mean,
I was going to do it anyway.
The day I asked him for help picking her up,
that's when he understood
that it wasn't an illegal rescue and we weren't doing anything…
It was an adoption, it was legal
and transparent.
And I know that, deep down,
he also experienced it as a small victory.
It was really beautiful, actually.
She wasn't in a cage anymore. She wasn't in an iron box anymore.
She wasn't Number 32 anymore.
I thought of naming her Britches
because of the macaque rescue video
that affected me so much when I was young,
but I thought it was too many syllables,
so I called her Chess.
What were those first days like with Chess at home?
Well, I mean, they were like an oasis.
Chess arrived and it was like she forced me to change
my lifestyle, my routines, everything.
The simple fact of having to go for walks every day,
that was a huge change.
Seeing her reminded me
where she came from and why.
The reason why I was doing this.
Happy 2019!
I know it was a small victory for him, but Kurda quit.
-How did that affect you? -Right.
Well, it hurt me a lot. It hurt me.
It hurt me, but I understood him. It's just… What can I say?
I've decided to leave the investigation. I keep thinking they're following us.
And we're risking too much. Be careful.
That was it, I was alone.
And the truth is, I started to feel like an imposter.
I thought again about quitting.
And new studies just came in too.
And I couldn't quit at that point. I was doing this
to document, to condemn what was going on there
and to inform. I couldn't quit at that point.
What I did understand was that I had to start from scratch.
The first thing I did was to move for security reasons.
I started to have my own way of working.
Although everything I filmed was ethically unacceptable,
inexplicably, it wasn't a crime.
I knew that if I wanted to do the investigation right,
I would have to record incidents and irregularities.
I had to dismantle the concept of animal well-being
and the three "R's" of the lab.
-What are the three "R's"? -Right, I'll explain.
Animal testing professionals whitewash the use of animals
with a so-called "principle of three R's," ever since, I think
since the '60s.
The three "R's" are…
Replacement: seeking out animals
with lower pain thresholds.
Reduction: finding and using methods
that allow researchers to get results from fewer animals
or reusing animals in multiple compatible studies.
And finally, refinement:
modification of animal breeding
or improvement of procedures for recognizing and minimizing
distress from pain.
…the refinement of breeding
Animal welfare is determined by the World Organisation for Animal Health
and governed by European laws and each country's regulations.
And it's all based on five points for any animal in this world.
It has to be free of hunger, thirst and malnutrition.
Free of fear and distress.
Free of physical and thermal discomfort.
Free of pain, injury and disease.
And free to behave naturally.
Okay, so let me get this straight. They're supposed
to have all the certifications.
Wasn't there someone supervising?
Yes, of course. There was a veterinarian
in charge of supervising the animals' well-being.
But in my whole time there, I only saw him once or twice.
In fact, I had to go to him myself to notify him about an incident.
What I don't get is how those certificates are obtained.
Reviewing European directives and the laws of Spain,
once a year, they're supposed to have to pass an investigation.
DOG INCIDENTS
In all the time I was there,
I never knew of any animal welfare inspection.
RABBIT INCIDENTS
Until I understood that public money was invested
and there was a lot of interest in keeping the lab in order.
NOTICES OF PUBLIC BIDS 274,557.68 EUROS - VIVOTECNIA RESEARCH
The concept of animal welfare
is a very powerful ideological tool
with which the animal exploitation business defends itself.
What relationship did you have with your colleagues?
-Had things changed? -Yes, of course.
Yes. I felt like I fit in with them.
They trusted me fully.
In fact, they assigned me tons of studies with rats, rabbits, pigs.
And just at that point,
which was already stressful, something happened
that raised the stress level a bit.
A former study director came back.
The thing that grabbed my attention
was that he said that in about six months,
a primate study was coming.
So I took notice
and marked it in my calendar because that really was
the final thing I needed to document
and then I could leave.
Studies started coming in
and instead of a lab, it seemed more like a factory.
More and more and more studies.
You would taste the blood in your mouth. The metallic taste of blood.
It was like a form of butchery.
I needed to shower and wash off the blood.
I brushed my teeth, everything,
before taking Chess for a walk.
I didn't even want her to smell me.
Until one day, on my way home, I decided to go to the pool.
And it was as if, suddenly, the chlorine…
The smell too. I don't know. It was like something that…
Like it cleaned me.
And I was physically tired too, which came with all the stress.
You think any person
who works in an animal testing lab
ends up accustomed to that routine.
It's like you develop an ability to float above the blood, the pain,
the screams, the defenseless animals.
You become desensitized, right?
I mean, you're unfazed, but the violence is all around you.
I had a huge internal struggle myself.
I had to be very…
conscious of what I was doing, what I was doing it for
and why I was doing it.
Hey, are they opening this?
They were opening it.
They're crazy, right?
For example, the backpack study on rats,
which was very rough, very unpleasant.
The rats writhed in pain each time we administered the drug.
I don't know how this one isn't dead.
And those days
were when César started making
really distasteful jokes, making reference
to Hitler and gas chambers and trains.
Watch, I'm going to…
-This is like… -What are you doing?
Like Hitler, taking them…
They're all going to be gassed? Why?
Since then, I could sense when something bad was going to happen.
That's how I managed to film the day
that Raúl broke a rabbit's spine.
Come on, bunny rabbit.
A rabbit barely make a sound, usually.
Imagine the pain that would cause that animal to scream.
He's broken.
He broke.
And instead of sedating the animal,
they kept it alive until the study was over.
For 48 hours.
Still going! This guy has to keep going!
They'll take blood later. We're not doing the blood test.
Another day, for example,
there was a commotion and I saw lots of coworkers
running toward the lab nervously.
And they told me there was a dog bleeding out in a cage.
They had moved her to a room.
And it was a dog who was part of the permanent group.
Who I knew. Who I'd cared for.
She had internal bleeding.
Nobody knew what had happened.
But the dog was bleeding to death.
And I left the room and ran into the animal welfare vet
and a caretaker too and we both said
that he had to do something. And he responded
that he couldn't do anything, first he had to
consult the head of the study, consult the drug company.
The dog was crying in pain. She was bleeding out.
She was losing strength. She was dying.
They were letting her suffer like crazy.
They sedated her late in the afternoon.
They left an animal suffering there because they didn't care.
It wasn't reported and nobody told the drug company anything.
Except for me. It was reported because I filmed it.
I understood a lot of things.
Like what?
That it was impossible for all the studies to go well.
With all the stress, all the pressure,
the studies were always positive.
I was convinced that the data was being manipulated.
But, of course, I lacked evidence.
Until I got it a few days later.
I've been falsifying data like crazy.
-You? -Me, yes, me.
Falsifying… Which data? From the dogs?
These ones that are dead in April.
I understood it was all business.
It didn't matter. Nothing mattered.
All that suffering, all of it, was for nothing.
For what? To satisfy whom?
Which data? From the dogs?
These ones that are dead in April.
Come on, you get out.
Falsifying…
Which data? From the dogs?
These ones that are dead in April.
Come on, you get out.
Do you recall exactly what it was about?
What was the study about?
Anti-tumor drugs.
You're telling me that if that anti-tumor study
that you filmed that evidence about,
if that study hypothetically reached human trials in phase two
to test it, I don't know, on terminally ill patients, for example,
there would be no scientific evidence or you wouldn't be able to say
-that the study is 100% reliable. -No. No one could.
No one.
It was an accumulation of stress,
of blood, of being aware of
the horrible irregularities that I'd filmed.
About the rats, about the rabbit.
The cruelty I saw toward the animals every day.
The jokes my colleagues made.
Feeling like a monster myself.
It was a buildup of…
Of everything that… I don't know. It crushed me.
Until that day, I didn't know what it was like to have an anxiety attack.
I only remember that I was driving and I started to
feel short of breath.
My hands started to feel too weak to hold the wheel.
I don't even know how I made it to a gas station.
And I started to cry.
I cried about everything I hadn't cried about for months.
I went back home…
and Chess laid in bed with me.
Seeing her happy and free…
reminded me why and for whom I was fighting.
And that I shouldn't give up…
even though it was so hard.
What was it like when the Soko thing happened?
-Oh, yes. -What was that like?
You were getting experience with macaques at that point.
Well, it gave me a rush.
Because I wasn't alone.
There was someone like me in Germany
who was undercover for four months
and had managed to get news out about animal abuse.
GERMANY HALTS EXPERIMENTS IN LABORATORY
AT CENTER OF ANIMAL ABUSE SCANDAL
And the same day that news broke,
Rebeca sent an email to the entire lab
with a link to the news and a video
about the Soko thing.
The footage this person had managed to get was very raw.
They were very similar to what I was recording.
The German press talked about the imminent closure of the lab.
So I also started to fantasize about
the fact that I could manage to close The Bunker.
GERMANY HALTS EXPERIMENTS AT LABORATORY
AT CENTER OF ANIMAL ABUSE SCANDAL
It caused a stir among the technicians, among the executives.
You could tell… Well, there was a little tension.
But they soon started with the excuses, "Not here."
"We treat animals well here, that only happens in Germany."
"People are just so sensitive."
-Have you seen the news? -About what?
They released a video of a German CRO.
Not for nothing, but it's more widespread in the world.
Really, monkeys are handled like that
in 90% of facilities in the world. And they're monkeys like these.
They're macaques.
I started hearing things like,
"Be on the lookout to see if someone is recording."
Everyone was on alert.
And now, they could catch me.
And that's when I…
Those were very tense days.
Imagine.
I'd be in the cafeteria and feel like everyone was looking at me,
whispering about me.
It was paranoia,
but there was a real feeling that everyone suspected everyone else.
In fact, whenever I left the house, I had real paranoia.
I felt like passers-by were looking at me, knowing who I was.
That was it. I'd reached my limit. No more.
I couldn't do it anymore.
So,
I decided that it was time.
I went back to my drafts folder, got the email and sent it.
How'd they take your resignation?
They made me a counteroffer.
They offered me more money and a promotion.
They wanted me to be in charge of training.
Obviously, I said no.
DAY 544 FINAL RECORDING INSIDE THE BUNKER
Error.
Correct.
They threw me a goodbye party and everything. With gifts.
They gave me a card with a macaque.
The first days that I didn't have to
go to The Bunker, that I didn't go through that door,
or do any more studies, it was so strange,
because I'd spent so much time in that routine.
Being a different person.
I'd spent 18 months undercover.
544 days, to be exact.
I feel like a part of me
died there with the rest of those animals.
I wasn't able to watch all the footage again.
So I decided to get in contact with a colleague.
I called him, told him what I had, sent him a clip.
He was blown away and said, yes, I could count on him, he'd help me.
And we were working like that, at a good pace,
and the pandemic hit.
Everything reminded me of The Bunker.
Of course, face masks made Chess nervous,
so we had to go out at hours when no one else was out.
I looked for a job in order to get out
and because I needed the money.
I started working at veterinary hospitals again.
It healed me, you know? Working to save animals again.
It was good for me, really.
And with my colleague…
The pandemic slowed us down a bit, but it's true that it also
helped us get very precise in reporting and organizing the footage.
I mean, 7,000 files that had hours and hours,
hundreds of hours filmed…
FOOTAGE
in the end, we managed to make an hour-long video
that we sent to the organization Cruelty Free International,
but what I didn't expect
was what came after that.
The Community of Madrid has suspended the research activities
of a laboratory over alleged animal abuse after an inspection.
It was conducted after an NGO reported the facts
through a video of cruel practices.
We warn you that these are difficult images.
The released images of extreme animal cruelty
in a laboratory has forced the suspension of clinical trial research.
The company has opened…
It was a frenzy.
It reached the Congress of Deputies. It was something… Boom.
The case of Vivotecnia, a laboratory in Madrid,
that in reality was a place of torture and abuse toward animals.
Where they were hit,
they were neglected, they were abused, they were mistreated,
as evidenced by footage that was collected over two years.
They're not only hurting and inflicting pain on other living beings,
they aren't just making us, animal lovers, suffer.
Those who torture or mistreat animals are a danger to society too.
A new protest in Madrid against animal abuse.
Some 2,000 people demonstrated to seek the liberation
of animals still remaining in Vivotecnia's labs.
The Community of Madrid, for its part, suspended
research activity at the lab
after an inspection revealed evidence of animal abuse.
Vivotecnia! Animal torture!
This Sunday, PACMA and other animal rights organizations
filed a criminal complaint against Vivotecnia.
Not even two days had gone by
before I started getting threats.
They knew that it was me who had filmed that,
so they came for me.
The phone didn't stop ringing.
It wouldn't stop.
I understood that I had to disappear.
The first thing I did was get rid of my phone.
They wanted to blame me for what I had filmed.
The judge also wanted to find me because he said that, if I didn't testify,
he would close the case.
The idea of the judge filing away the case
devastated me.
I thought about the animals still inside there
and decided to go in for questioning.
I had to undergo an interview with the police
in which they would decide whether they believed me
and give me protected witness status that my defense was asking for
in order to initiate a trial…
or whether they'd throw me in jail.
Well, it didn't take long for the police to realize
that what I was telling them was the truth,
and a few days later, I was given protected witness status.
GOVERNMENT LAUDS RAPID CLOSURE OF VIVOTECNIA
AFTER VERIFYING SIGNS OF ANIMAL ABUSE
MADRID SUSPENDS RESEARCH ACTIVITY AT VIVOTECNIA FOR ITS ANIMAL ABUSE
FAILED TO COMPLY WITH INTERNAL CONTROLS REQUIRED BY LAW
Since the start of the month, the laboratory Vivotecnia, denounced
for mistreatment of animals in its research and trials,
has resumed work.
The Community of Madrid assures that all measures
have been taken to avoid animal suffering,
but animal rights organizations
say that these measures are insufficient
and threaten legal action.
Well, imagine my frustration.
The injustice.
After everything I had presented,
the images, the videos,
the social media crying out to close this place.
The people in the street.
I don't know. What can I tell you?
In my opinion, Vivotecnia should have been closed.
Like the German lab.
It was only closed for three months. Three.
They gave them an absurd, insignificant fine,
and not one animal was rescued. Not one. Not a single one.
Not a single animal was saved.
THE COMMUNITY OF MADRID LIFTS SUSPENSION OF VIVOTECNIA
AND ALLOWS RESUMPTION OF ANIMAL TESTING
VIVOTECNIA TRIAL: DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE
TRIAL IS IN PRELIMINARY PHASE AND MAY BE SHELVED
The investigation was delayed. I'm still waiting for the trial date.
The only ones charged as of right now are merely workers.
I mean, they're not really
going after the people who are really responsible, are they?
The ones who run the company.
The media and social pressure waned.
It's like it suddenly disappeared, stopped.
As you know, I decided to come here to London,
I had to get far away. Where I could keep working.
And I called you to do the interview before I go undercover again.
But first, I'd like
for you to see with your own eyes, and listen to
those dogs at the breeding facility
who are going to end up in labs like The Bunker.
Okay, guys… Let's get ready to go?
-Don't take her mic off. -I was going to say that.
-Don't take it off. -Got it.
At the next corner, we have to turn left.
-Come on. -Let's go. Okay.
CAMP BEAGLE WYTON - UNITED KINGDOM
It's a pleasure to meet you, Carlota,
and to have you here at Camp Beagle.
Your work has been an inspiration for us.
With the investigation you've done,
we can explain to people what's happening,
what happens to these dogs when they leave this place.
These are the containers where they live.
As you can see, no windows.
Those little vents don't let any light in.
One unit there, behind another. Behind another.
This is the first row.
Then there's another row, and another, and another row.
These dogs suffer from the day they're born
until the day they die. All they know is suffering.
It's very hard for me to be here,
but I feel like someone has to.
Someone has to do this.
Just like you made your sacrifice in that lab.
You'll understand me better now, won't you?
That helplessness I felt at the fence.
And that desire to jump over.
Because the puppies I saw in the bunker,
that I saw suffering there…
Many of those I had to kill.
I had to kill them…
in order to keep documenting that place.
They're from there,
breeding facility like this.
In The Bunker, I couldn't do any rescuing. I couldn't.
That's why I admire what Animal Rising did here at Camp Beagle.
I want you to meet them.
ANIMAL RISING LOCATION UNKNOWN, 2024
-Did you push it? Can you see it? -Do we all fit?
-This one? -I think so.
CAMP BEAGLE DECEMBER 2022
FOOTAGE PROVIDED BY ANIMAL RISING
-Are you nervous? -No.
Yes and no. You know how it is.
I don't really understand why you want to go undercover again.
You know how hard it is, how dangerous it is,
how stressful it is,
and the consequences you might face if you're caught this time.
Yes, I know.
But someone has to do it.
Someone has to risk their life to document the reality that lies behind those walls.
People have the right to know the truth.
And that's my job: infiltrate and demonstrate.
I know there are powerful lobbies that will keep coming after us,
but we can't stop fighting for the animals.
The struggle doesn't end until the last cage is empty.
That's why so many people keep rescuing, keep documenting and keep protesting.
And a few, like me…
will keep going undercover.