A TONBRIDGE animal rights group has controversially urged the public to boycott four of the country's leading health charities.

Animal Aid is calling on people to halt donations to Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, Parkinson's UK and the Alzheimer's Society.

Based in Bradford Street, Animal Aid this week published a report, called Victims of Charity, accusing the charities of subjecting animals to cruelty as part of their research into cures.

The report claims dogs, mice, monkeys, goats and pigs have been tormented in water mazes, injected with cancerous tissue, had their brains deliberately damaged with toxic chemicals and their hearts slowly and systematically destroyed.

The charities have all defended their use of animal research, saying it was sometimes "crucial" to save lives where there was "simply no alternative".

But local volunteers for the health charities have urged supporters not to abandon them because of Animal Aid's boycott campaign.

"It could be drastic for us because we are very short of money anyway, this will affect us badly," said Gina Faircloth, a local welfare worker for Parkinson's UK.

"Parkinson's is a horrible disease and it needs all the help it can get, desperately, to find some sort of cure.

"We do as much as we can locally for people, running exercise classes and hydrotherapy. People locally will suffer."

Trish Robinson, former chairman of Cancer Research's Tonbridge committee, said of Animal Aid's campaign: "I don't honestly know what the general feeling will be.

"I do feel quite strongly about trying to find a cure for cancer.

"I love animals and it's not for me to say what is right and wrong."

Animal Aid director Andrew Tyler has called on the public to withhold all financial support – including donations, legacies and charity shop purchases – from the four organisations until they pledge to end their funding of animal experiments.

He said: "Our high-profile campaign, supported by a series of national newspaper advertisements, will put the charities under a great deal of pressure to rethink their research strategy."