Dr. Boycott

Dr. Boycott is the main antagonist of the 1977 Richard Adams book The Plague Dogs, and its 1982 animated film adaptation. He is a ruthless scientist who runs the A.R.S.E. (Animal Research, Scientific and Experimental) and tortures animals for experiments, particularly Rowf and Snitter.

He was voiced by the late Nigel Hawthorne in the film.

Biography
He is a senior researcher at A.R.S.E. in charge of the experimental programme which involved Rowf. He is callous and arrogant, with no remorse for either the animals in his experiments or his subordinate, Stephen Powell. His inept handling of the situation arising from the dogs' escape serves both to antagonize the local farmers, who are losing sheep to the dogs, and to provide grist to Digby Driver's mill despite his efforts to do the opposite.

History
He and his right-hand man, Stephen Powell, have been doing numerous experiments on Rowf by drowning him, while they did an experiment on Snitter's brain. One evening, Snitter squeezes into Rowf's cage and discover that his door was unlatched. They explore the facility in order to escape until they sneak into the incinerator. When Dr. Goodner prepares to start up the incinerator, the two dogs realize that they're inside the incinerator and narrowly escape from the lab.

Later, after the dogs meet up with the Tod, Dr. Boycott recieves a call from one of the local farmers, learning that the dogs have been hunting down sheep and decides to hire the authorities to bring back the dogs.

The next morning, after Snitter accidentally kills a farmer by stepping onto his shotgun, the police are hired to take them down. When Geoffrey Westcott was hired by the scientists to hunt down the dogs, he eventually falls to his death after being jumped by the Tod and his corpse is scavenged by the dogs.

The next morning, the army was involved. The dogs learn that the whitecoats are patrolling the area in an RAF Sea King helicopter, but the Tod comes up with a plan to distract the hunters and have the dogs escape on a train to the sea. However, he eventually ends up being corned and killed by the hunters. The train arrives at the coastal village of Ravenglass where the two dogs try to find some food at a cafe, but they are spotted by the helicopter and are pursued by it until they reach the shoreline and can run no further. As the army approach and prepare to shoot the dogs, Snitter looks out over the water and claims to see an island. He jumps into the sea and begins to swim to it. Rowf is hesitant to follow due to his hydrophobia, but his greater fear of the gunmen drives him to jump in as well and catch up with Snitter. The army begin to shoot at the dogs, but seemingly miss. A mist begins to form as the gunmen and helicopter disappear, where Dr. Boycott is forced to quit his job.