Undercover: Inside The Bunker Recap: Will Carlota's Actions Bring About A Change?

There should be no denying it; if the history of human civilization has proven anything, it is that animals are the most oppressed, exploited community there is. Ironically enough, while the majority of the humanists shed tears for the regular atrocities committed upon the marginalized, when it comes to the plight of the voiceless ones—those same humanists appear to have desensitized themselves and normalized all the mistreatment and violence the animals are subjected to on a regular basis. This collective negligence of people is the focus in Amazon Prime’s newly released documentary, Undercover: Inside the Bunker, which revolves around the horrid account of abusive treatment animals were subjected to in Vivotecnia, a toxicology lab based in Madrid, funded by big pharma, where practices of animal testing avoided every legal and ethical constraint. The documentary features the recreation of the interview taken of sole whistleblower Carlota Saorsa (name obviously changed), who exposed the lab’s malpractices where she worked for 18 months, and her account exposes the inner depravity of people in powerful positions whose greed has enslaved animals and humans alike. 

The documentary contains footage that might seem too disturbing for anyone who is empathetic, but the truth must come out so we and our future generations rectify the mistakes that have been committed already and prevent repeating anything similar. 

Carlota’s Drive for Animal Welfare

Undercover: Inside the Bunker opens with Carlota, who is at present under protective custody for exposing the reality of animal testing at Vivotecnia lab, aka the eponymous bunker, which has been basically operating as a torture house of test subjects, which includes mice, rabbits, beagle dogs, and monkeys, for quite a while. During the 18 months Carlota worked there, she gathered strong evidence in the form of secretive recordings through her spec camera, which shows the harrowing nonchalance of the higher-ups, low-level operators, and researchers towards the animals. The creatures, all sentient and able to express their emotional distress, are brought to the lab to be subjected to abuse and neglect and forced to live in pathetic conditions, and once they are fully exploited, they get discarded like expendable objects. The people in the lab management, who are letting these degenerative practices continue by turning a blind eye to the plight of the helpless creatures, might appear as regular humans, but their lack of empathy makes them not too dissimilar from absolute psychopaths. Needless to say what kind of experience Carlota, who herself had a soft corner in her heart for the voiceless and was a veterinary technician by profession, had to endure to bring out the truth for the world to see. 

As Carlota mentions, she had this drive to work for animal welfare from a young age, and during her academic years, she was exposed to the ideologies of renowned feminists and humanists like Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Jane Goodall, and Emma Goodman. Their battle to strive for a world that emphasized equality and abolition of discrimination shaped Carlota’s worldview and strengthened her ideology to work for the betterment of the lives of the most oppressed, exploited community there is. If I mention the inspiration in the context of an ecofeminist perspective, then indeed both nature and women have been subjugated throughout history by power-craving men who had the reins of everything. Carlota specifically mentions the incident of Britches, one of numerous baby macaques who were horribly experimented upon since birth in the Riverside lab at the University of California, and a raid by activists of the Animal Liberation Front in 1985 exposed the misdeeds. Carlota was inspired to be the voice for those who could not fight against normalized injustice after seeing there are people like her who will put everything on the line to save them. Carlota decided to make a career as a veterinarian, and before joining Vivotecnia, she had worked at animal hospitals. 

Carlota’s Journey Through Hell

The sole reason Carlota took a job at Vivotecnia is because, from the vacancy posting, she became aware that the lab was doing unethical experimentations, and she needed to expose the ongoing practices. As Carlota mentions later, animal testing operations use the ethical framework of ‘humane’ experimental techniques, which are denoted by three Rs—replacement, reduction, and refinement—developed back in the 60s. These principles are aimed at minimizing the pain of the animals while increasing the output of experiment results, but abusers use these principles as a shield to hide behind. The principles of experimentation must also comply with the five codes of animal welfare, which advocate complete freedom from physical or emotional distress, emphasize the physical and mental well-being of animals involved, and necessitate ensuring that they live in a natural environment. However, the crooked management of Vivotecnia, just like hundreds of big pharma labs worldwide, doesn’t care a dime about the five codes. Carlota witnessed, much to her shock and horror, dogs and monkeys being kept in inhospitable conditions in cages, often covered in blood and feces; their screams of agony were met with deaf ears, and even injured animals were left in their miserable state until experiments were completed. Mice were tortured, and on one occasion, a crooked researcher named Raul made a distasteful joke by comparing the mice with Jews and broke a rabbit’s spine due to his sheer neglect. Carlota had reported this to the animal welfare officer of the lab, who was obviously paid enough to remain silent and overlook all the atrocities. Carlota recorded the incidents using her spec-cam and regularly reported to one of her animal activist associates, Kurda, who later on left Carlota all on her own in fear of getting exposed. The most pathetic part is animal activists have to live in fear of getting caught by the authorities for exposing the evil practices of animal abuse, but the monstrous megalomaniacs who let all these things happen will rest easy anyway. The ironic aspect of the Vivotecnia experiments was Carlota recorded one of her colleagues openly confessing that they were altering research data on a regular basis to stay in the job, as more positive results will bring more funding and research to the lab. Animal testing of an antitumor drug had negative results, which was later put on human trials on terminally ill patients. No wonder that those who don’t care about animal lives don’t give a dime about human ones either. 

It should be mentioned that it was not easy for Carlota to win the trust of research management and get involved in the research procedures, which gave her direct access to record the sufferings of the creatures. Rebeca, the chief of operations, was a heartless, cold woman who couldn’t even acknowledge the existence of the animals, and to get into her and another research leader Tania’s circle of trust, Carlota had to euthanize 40 dogs in a single day. This incident took a part of her soul and left her with an existential dread so severe that she started questioning her purpose. Carlota was working like an automaton, feeling herself almost being similar to her colleagues who have become desensitized after witnessing violence day in, day out. All throughout her tenure in Vivotecnia, Carlota had to live a false life of someone who was not affected by the display of horrendous treatment animals were subjected to. But her heart bled every day, and her own helplessness of being unable to save even a single life that begged her to be there was crushing. 

A particular female Beagle, denoted simply as Number 32 by the cruel institution that doesn’t accord individuality to the animals through names, was Carlota’s most beloved, as Carlota felt great sadness seeing her extremely depressed, composed ever since being brought in the lab. Carlota’s world turned upside down when the euthanization day of Number 32 was announced. However, soon enough, the lab announced that some of the test subjects would be released for adoption, and luckily for Carlota, Number 32 was on the list. She arranged for her adoption through one of her animal welfare associates, as Carlota herself couldn’t have applied for adoption, as it would have blown her cover, and brought Number 32 out of the hell, safe and sound. Days later, the female Beagle was no longer just a number; she was named Chess by Carlota, who brought her home—and experiencing freedom for the first time in her life, Chess became this jolly little ball of love who reminded Carlota of the purpose of her work. She had finally saved one life, and many more like Chess were waiting to be rescued by a kind soul like Carlota. 

Will Carlota’s Actions Bring About A Change?

The first major shakeup for researchers of Vivotecnia resulted from the exposé of German animal testing facility LPT in a raid conducted by SOKO Tierschutz and Cruelty Free International. Carlota found a sense of relief as it was revealed that, based on a tip from a whistleblower in the lab, the raid was conducted, which exposed horrible abuse of primates and resulted in the lab’s closure. As rumors, suspicions, and conspiracies started making rounds in Vivotecnia as individuals here too were guilty of committing similar crimes, Carlota realized it was time for her to leave unless she wanted to risk getting caught. Carlota, who had to live in fear of getting caught ever since she joined the lab, decided to move and opt for complete anonymity. She had enough evidence anyway, having recorded footage for over one and a half years, and after she resigned from Vivotecnia, one of her colleagues helped her to bring her account to the media.

Carlota received huge support from the commoners, who raised their voices against Vivotecnia and the pharma companies involved with them, and the issue reached the National Congress, where the incidents received severe condemnation. Carlota faced death threats—obviously from her former workplace and also from the stooges of the big pharmas—but still she had to appear in front of the authorities to testify, or else the case was supposed to be filed away by the court. She was taken under witness protection, but much to her horror, Vivotecnia was still operational after a mere three months of suspension. Not a single rescue was made, not a single reform was put in place to ensure the animals don’t suffer like they have been. It feels almost as if Carlota’s courageous, one-woman battle against the greedy, downright evil system was in vain. This prompted Carlota to come in front of the camera and share her account in the interview in question, detailing her experience and heinous negligence by the legal and authoritative system. 

However, Carlota’s actions indeed brought change, especially through the actions of Camp Beagle and the Animal Rising organization, which rescued 18 beagle puppies from MBR Acres, a seedy animal breeding company based in London that provided animals directly to Vivotecnia and other labs. This is a small victory in the larger battle against human apathy and cruelty, which has made it possible to normalize animal abuse; hopefully in the upcoming days, the world will see the importance of their works and try to build itself a better place for the voiceless. 

There is no dearth of excuses for us to justify our rampant exploitation of nature and animals, ranging from art, sports, tradition, culture, and religion to science, technology, future sustenance, and even betterment of the world. How long will it take for us to realize it is nothing but an egocentric, self-worshipping agenda humans have put in place to hide the gnarly, bloody, hideous image of the altar that serves as the foundation of our selfish endeavors? You don’t have to be an animal lover or have a pet at home to sympathize with their condition; having a moral compass and empathy is enough to raise your voice against injustice committed against them. Recognize that anyone part of the living world has the right to live freely, has equal if not more right on the planet than we humans do, and is not as dependent on us as we are on them. Then maybe one day we will match the worth we automatically apply to ourselves. 

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