Sheepish winners

The campaign group Seriously Ill for Medical Research has announced the winners of its Mad Animal Rights Awards.

Director Vicky Cowell said the group had devised the awards to bring to public notice those "groups that take thousands of pounds from well-meaning members of the general public who have no idea about the misleading and untruthful representations they make".

The seven awards include one for the "most absurd", which was won by author Vernon Coleman. In February, Dr Coleman appeared before the House of Lords select committee on animals in scientific procedures and said: "Can I also tell you by the way that there will be lots of sheep left? Please do not worry yourself. The sheep will not all disappear if people stop eating sheep because lots of people have pet sheep, and lots of people have pet cows, and there are all sorts of animals that will still exist."