http://doctordanlyons.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/government-u-turn-opens-door-to-experiments-on-lost-pets/

thats awful!!! :(

Rather emotive wording.  Unclaimed stray pets may be more accurate.
Ideally it would be animals bred for the job but unfortunately the animal rights brigade have made it very difficult to breed such animals in the UK under the protection of stricter regulation that they might find in other countries.  So it looks like a choice between this or animals shipped in from some obscure Eastern European Country or worse still experimented on there.
I dare say this thread will be removed to the discussion graveyard of Controversial Stuff soon so you better have your say double quick :)

I got in touch with my mp some weeks ago about this as there's some speculation it's a hoax, I received a reply last week saying he ( Sir Menzies Campbell ) has written to the sec of the Ministry of Rural Affairs on my behalf to get a comment from her as to whether it's true or not.
I'll let folks know if/when I find out anything.