ANIMAL rights activists are furious that the corpses of dogs have been offered for scientific research.

The animals, from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, had their windpipe and lungs removed by researchers at the Royal Veterinary College.

The RVC has identified a dog virus and hopes a vaccine can be developed.

But not all animal-lovers are happy.

Sarah Kite of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection said: “The public assumption is that a rescue organisation will place homeless dogs into a loving home, not kill them because they are considered unsuitable for adoption and then hand their bodies over to a laboratory to be cut up.”

The dogs home said all the dogs used had been put down because they were unsuitable for re-housing. A spokesman added: “At no point was any dog put to sleep by Battersea for the purposes of investigation.”