abandoned animal testing facility

I Photographed an Abandoned Animal Testing Facility

abandoned animal testing facilityAbout 5 years ago the last employees that worked here left. The company was bought by a Swiss giant in the industry and they decided to move the facility. The site this facility was built on was rented and the new owners did not renew the contract. That caused the buildings to become derelict since there was no actual owner anymore. The land is partly poisoned and was not getting cleansed anytime soon.

abandoned animal testing facilityA year or two after the facility closed a fire emerged. The fire caused an acrid smell in the area. Firefighters were soon on the site and found evidence that the fire was most certainly deliberately started. Luckily enough they managed to secure the fire pretty fast due to their early arrival. They had to check the complete building since rumour was spreading the building was occupied by refugees. Local residents also repeatedly called the police because they had seen kids wandering around. Serious damage or accidents were prevented.

 

abandoned animal testing facility

Exploring

abandoned animal testing facilityThis chemical site was enormous. I only found one of the buildings on the site interesting enough to photograph though. It’s where they used to have their animal testing facility. A lot of stuff was still there. I found an autopsy or operating table, medical equipment, lamps, an autoclave and even a ‘glove box’ (the orange box). There was a lot of glass and other debris lying around. It’s hard to imagine but this was probably caused by kids playing here and for example throwing rocks through the windows. I had to be careful where I put my feet.

 

abandoned animal testing facility

 

abandoned animal testing facility

The room you see in the picture above, with the autopsy or operating table in it, was the first room I ran into. I started shooting here while my friend went to explore the rest of the building. This room I was shooting was the only one I was aware of that existed in the building. Everything I found was a surprise. The cages were one of the last things I photographed. It was a hard shot to take because it was very dark and narrow.

abandoned animal testing facilityThe mood inside of this building was dreary. While processing the photos at home I try to feel what I was feeling when taking the photo. This usually reflects in my processing. That’s most likely why this is a rather dark set with not a lot of color in it, while I usually process images rather bright and colourful. Next to that I also decided to process single RAW images.

The photos in this set have been shot using a Canon EOS 650D with a Canon EF-S 10-18mm lens. I carry my gear around in a Lowepro Slingshot 202 Sling Camera Bag. This article has also been published on PetaPixel.

 

3 Comments

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

Albert McCannreply
October 16, 2016 at 11:18 pm

Neat looking images, but with that glove box, it’s probably a good idea to not touch anything with your exposed skin. You never know what they were testing there.

romanreply
October 16, 2016 at 11:19 pm
– In reply to: Albert McCann

Thanks, Albert! True that, I didn’t touch anything because I was already afraid haha.

L’étrange laboratoire désaffecté d’expérience animal… | Pixelistesreply
October 20, 2016 at 1:01 pm

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