A pensioner will starve herself for 48 hours in protest against the building of an animal experimentation laboratory at Oxford University.

Joan Court at an earlier protest

Animal rights campaigner Joan Court, 85, will begin her hunger strike tomorrow (July 14) outside the laboratory construction site, in South Parks Road.

Mrs Court, who has a professional background in nursing and midwifery, has been an anti-vivisection campaigner for 25 years. Earlier this year she helped pressure group SPEAK win a battle to scrap a multi-million pound primate research laboratory at Cambridge University.

Oxford University's £18m facility has been fraught with controversy since plans to house animals and experiment on them were first unveiled five years ago.

The university said 98 per cent of the experiments conducted there would be on rodents. The rest would be on primates, fish, ferrets and amphibians.

However, animal rights protesters have vowed to do everything in their power to stop the project.

Mrs Court, of Sturton Street, Cambridge, said: "I consider the cruelty involved in vivisection morally unjustified and scientifically misleading. As human beings we have a moral obligation to protect the innocent.

"I like the idea of non-violent protest -- this is more civil disobedience -- and most of the violence is inflicted on the poor animals."

She added: "I firmly believe we have a moral duty to object because these animals are harmed, terrified and taken away from their natural environments -- it really is like something from the dark ages.

"I think we face a much tougher battle in Oxford because the animal rights scene is not as well established as it is in Cambridge."

During her career as a midwife, Mrs Court worked with the World Health Organisation in Pakistan, Turkey and India. She has been heavily involved in the animal rights movement since graduating from Cambridge University.

In 2000, Oxford University closed its facility at Northmoor in west Oxfordshire.

Violent clashes between animal rights protesters and police at Hillgrove Farm, near Witney, forced cat breeder Christopher Brown to close it in 1999. SPEAK claims university scientists have been involved in animal abuse in the name of science for decades and cite the case of the so-called Oxford Two as one of the worst instances.

The pressure group claim two macaque monkeys have been subjected to experiments for many years.

Oxford West and Abingdon MP, Dr Evan Harris, said: "Obviously people have the right to protest. Nevertheless medical research using animals is only done when it is necessary to improve human health and is regulated to ensure the minimum amount of suffering.

"Scientists have to suffer a lot of unfair criticism for the work they do."

Earlier this year Oxford neurologist and chief executive of the Medical Research Council, Prof Colin Blakemore, a target of animal rights protesters in the past, said: "I support new facilities that will improve the welfare of animals and progress vital medical research."