Former Hillgrove cat farm worker Allie Moore told how she smuggled out her favourite cat.

Ms Moore, 25, of Frys Hill, Oxford, left the farm in October last year, after a month off sick, and was asked not to return because she had taken the cat, Buddy.

She said workers at the farm had smuggled out 'hundreds' of cats and re-housed them by writing them off as dead.

She said: "Every time I went to work I used to let Buddy out and he would follow me round.

"I smuggled him out. I told the police and they went straight and told Mr Brown. He told me not to come back, but he was nice about it."

She said now Buddy was in a home environment he was a changed cat.

"He never used to sit on anyone's lap," she said. "Now it's as if he can't say thank you enough."

She told how she took another cat, Napoleon, which was dying, for a walk outside around the farm.

"They don't see outside. They don't see anything just four walls," she said.

Ms Moore, who worked at the farm for five years, claimed the cats did not receive adequate veterinary care. "You often see cats in a lot of pain and it only takes one phone call to the vet to save the pet's life but it doesn't happen," she said.

She said the cats lived in cramped conditions and the breeding queens were put down when they stopped producing kittens. She now wants to set up a charity to provide new homes for these cats.

Christopher Brown, owner of the farm, which breeds cats for research, said: "The cats receive veterinary attention whenever necessary."

But he agreed the cats needed more space.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.