Brown Dog Statue
A small memorial in Battersea Park to a dog whose death sparked riots and a national battle over animal experiments.
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The lowdown
In a leafy corner of Battersea Park stands a modest statue of a small brown dog, marking one of the strangest episodes in London history. The original 1906 memorial commemorated a dog used in controversial laboratory experiments, and its provocative inscription so enraged medical students that it triggered the Brown Dog Riots, with crowds clashing in the streets and police guarding the statue around the clock.
The first statue was eventually removed in secret to end the trouble, and this replacement was put up in 1985. It is free to find, a quiet little monument to a fierce national argument about science, cruelty and conscience that still echoes today.
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