CAT breeder Chris Brown today branded two masked men who beat him up when he tried to take down an animal rights poster a "pair of thugs".

Mr Brown, the owner of Hillgrove Farm, Minster Lovell, was attacked in Witney as he tried to remove a poster calling for his cat breeding centre to be closed down.

The attack came just days after he was sent a chilling bomb threat from a group calling itself the Provisional Animal Liberation Front.

During Wednesday night's attack, Mr Brown was struck from behind and knocked to the ground by two men wearing balaclavas as he tried to take down a poster from the wall of public toilets in the Welch Way car park. The men kicked him several times before running off.

During the last year, animal rights campaigners have protested at the farm, which breeds cats for laboratories.

Mr Brown told the Oxford Mail: "This has just increased my determination to keep my business going."

Heather James, from Save the Hillgrove Cats, said: "There is no way that we would condone this sort of act."

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