Tag: Greg Avery

SHAC Plans to Target Japanese Customers of HLS

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty claims that it has received an extensive list of Huntingdon Life Sciences customers and contracts from a sympathizers within the company.

Among other things, SHAC plans to use the list to target Japanese companies who are customers of HLS. The Financial Times reports that some of Japan’s large chemical companies including Sumitomo, Daiichi, Mitsui, Eisai, and Fujisawa are on SHAC’s list of customers and are likely to be targets of SHAC’s variety of animal rights extremism.

Convicted SHAC criminal Greg Avery told The Financial Times,

Our supporters in Japan are very keen but very inexperienced. We will send 10 or 15 people from the UK and five to 10 from Europe to supplement them.

According to the Financial Times, SHAC claims to have raised 20,000 pounds to support its Japanese campaign.

Meanwhile, SHAC is also extending its campaign to target Covance as well.

Source:

Animal activists expand campaign against HLS. David Firn and Patrick Jenkins, The Financial Times, March 14, 2003.

Deloitte & Touch Drop Huntingdon Life Sciences

Huntingdon Life Sciences announced at the end of February that its auditor, Deloitte & Touche,

. . . will not stand for reelection following completion of the 2002 audit. D&T has advised LSR [Huntingdon] that their decision was made as a result of harassment they received from animal rights extremists and not as a result of any accounting dispute, disagreement or concern with LSR.

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty quickly took credit for Deloitte & Touche’s decision, posting on the SHAC web site,

This evening, as late as they possibly could, in a pathetic attempt to avoid the press, Deloitte & Touche have waved the white flag and surrendered to SHAC.

. . .

There has never been a response to a target like this one — we were swamped with phone calls and emails all day long as activists went to war against Deloitte & Touche. Offices were picketed, home demo’s were carried out on directors, locks were glued, offices and homes were spray painted. There was leafleting, there were mass phone calls, there were mass e-mails, there were actions taking place all over he world daily. Most of all there was relentless drive and determination of all of you to drive SHAC’s message home: sever your links with HLS or face the consequences.

The Financial Times quoted an unnamed Deloitte & Touche employee as saying, “There has been criminal damage, windows broken, doors glued shut, and intimidation of wives and young children of several staff.”

Unfortunately running away might not solve the problem. SHAC’s Greg Avery told AcountancyAge.Com that the animal rights group would likely continue to target Deloitte & Touche,

If the latest annual report comes out of HLS with Deloitte’s name on it [as auditor] then we will still consider them to be the company’s auditors.

HLS meanwhile appealed for the British government to follow through on promises of cracking down on such extremism. In a statement the company said,

This is yet another example of how the law and order systems of this country are unable to protect individuals and companies from the illegal acts that inevitably now accompany animal rights protests. How long can the British government allow this extortion to continue?

How long indeed.

Sources:

Amazing! Deloitte & Touche pull out after only 10 days. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, March 2003.

Form 8-K Current Report. Life Sciences Research, February 28, 2003.

Deloitte quits as auditor of drug-testing group. Patrick Jenkins, Financial Times, March 1, 2003.

Deloitte severs ties with HLS. Paul Grant, AccountancyAge.Com, February 2, 2003.

Arrest as protesters target HLS auditor. Cambridge News, February 27, 2003.

British Government Steps in to Insure Huntingdon Life Sciences

On December 17, 2002, the British government stepped in and became Huntingdon Life Science’s insurer.

UK Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said of the decision,

Both these actions have been taken to secure Huntingdon from the harm caused by the criminal intimidation and assault being directed at its employees, including their families and friends, and those of its suppliers, customers and other companies.

Not surprisingly, HLS and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty offered completely different versions of why the British government decided to become HLS’ insurance provider.

SHAC spokesperson Greg Avery said of the government’s action,

This is a massive victory. Over the last 12 months SHAC has gone global. This has served as a training ground for our next target. What we are interested in is impacting Huntingdon’s bottom line.

Of course, HLS’ bottom line keeps improving as the company continues to drum up news business despite SHAC’s “massive victor[ies].”

HLS claimed in statement that Marsh Insurance had not threatened to withdraw as its insurer and that its insurance premiums had not been effected by the SHAC protests,

It [the UK government’s action] is a pre-emptive move. The government thought there could be problems and acted proactively to support us.

Sources:

Lifeline for Huntingdon. Jill Treanor, The Guardian (UK), December 18, 2002.

Activists claim victory as state insures HLS. David Firn and Andrew Bolger, The Financial Times (London), December 17, 2002.

British SHAC Office Allegedly Raided

Over the weekend the following message was posted to an animal rights e-mail list. So far, however, there is no independent confirmation of this.

News just in – The SHAC offices in England, were raided earlier today [Friday 4th October]. Five computers were stolen by the police. Greg [Avery] and Heather [James] were arrested and taken into police custody. Greg has since been released but Heather remains in police custody. Donations are needed to replace stolen property,so that SHAC can continue their work to close down the animal torturers at Huntingdon Life Science. This is just another tactic on the part of the authorities to distrupt SHAC operations. The one consolation that can be gained from such actions is: if SHAC weren’t having an effect, the authorities wouldn’t be using such tactics. Postal Address: SHAC
c/o Lynn Sawyer
6 Boat Lane
Evesham
Worcestershire
WR11 4BP / UK Telephone: 0845 458 0630 Email: [email protected] MORE NEWS UPDATE AS WE RECEIVE IT

Source:

The SHAC offices in England were raided Friday, October 4th. E-mail Communication, October 5, 2002.

British Animal Rights Activist Sentenced for E-Mail Death Threats

British animal rights activist Robert Moaby, 33, was sentenced this week to four and a half years in jail for e-mailing death threats to executives at companies that did business with Huntingdon Life Sciences. Moaby also received almost 3 years for possessing child pornography which was discovered on a computer seized from his home.

In May 2001, Moaby sent an e-mail to a vice-president of the Bank of New York that said, “We are going to kill you.” In June 2001, Moaby sent another threatening e-mail to the CEO of AIM Fund Management. In both e-mails, Moaby cited the businesses links to Huntingdon Life Sciences.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Peter Fingret told Moaby,

These were not idle threats. They must be seen in the context of a violent campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences and its associated companies. You must have known they would instill fear to the people they were addressed and their families. Justifiably, they were taken so seriously by your victims that they had security arranged for them.

British newspapers The Daily Telegraph (London) and This is London both identified Moaby as a member of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. SHAC spokesman Greg Avery told This is London, however, that Moaby was not known to SHAC and they did not endorse his actions.

Which is a bit odd, considering that Moaby’s actions were completely consistent with both SHAC’s rhetoric and the actions of its leaders such as Avery. Avery himself plead guilty to waging a campaign of harassment against investors in Huntingdon Life Sciences, including distributing newsletters containing the addresses of those affiliated with HLS telling readers, “Lets smash them.”

Sources:

Animal activist jailed over death threats. The Daily Telegraph (London), August 20, 2002.

Animal rights man jailed over email. Patrick McGowan, ThisIsLondon.Com, August 20, 2002.

Brian Cass Awarded CBE

Huntingdon Life Sciences managing director Brian Cass has been appointed as a Commander in The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the third-highest highest rank in the Order of the British Empire (and just shy of knighthood).

Cass was assaulted by violent animal rights thugs in 2001 and the award was seen by British commentators as a signal from the Labour government that it is serious about curtailing animal rights violence.

Along with Cass, a number of others in the pharmaceutical industry including Ian Pollock Sword, chairman of Inveresk Research, and GIll Samuels, of Pfizer, were appointed CBe.

Cass told The Times of London,

It [the award] is very special for me as an individual, but, much more importantly, there couldn’t be a clearer signal of support from the Government, and indeed from society for all those who are involved in research in this sector.

All our people share in this honour, as they have been so resolute in standing up to this pretty awful intimidation we have had to put up with for the past three or four years.

Richard Ley of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry agreed, telling The Times of London,

Brian deserves this award. It does send a very positive message to those who are involved in the research and development of medicines, and to those who conduct the animal experiments that are a vital part of that.

The BBC quoted an unnamed spokesperson for the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection criticizing the award,

I am appalled that in the face of growing public concern that the government has made this symbolic award. It shows the extent of HLS’s high-level support.

Greg Avery of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty said that,

It’s disgusting that someone who causes 500 animal deaths every single day should be awarded a CBE. ‘It casts a long shadow over people who have been awarded them for good reasons. It’s not Tony Blair’s voice we hear now but that of the global companies for whom he has become a mouthpiece.’

And, of course, there were politicians displaying the sort of “lets give in to the extremist” attitudes that are driving medical research out of Great Britain. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrats’ Home Affairs spokesman, said of the award,

I’m very surprised. It’s a political statement by the Prime Minister to demonstrate his commitment to science, but it’s probably ill-judged and unduly provocative. Tony Blair is right to say we must support science but he must recognize that what’s been done at HLS is extremely controversial.

Yeah, do not do anything “unduly provocative” while animal rights extremists are busy assaulting pharmaceutical company employees and driving pharmaceutical companies to the United States and elsewhere. Just appease them and hope they’ll go away. Yeah, that’s a winning strategy.

Sources:

CBE for animal test boss. Mark Milner, The Guardian (London), June 15, 2002.

Scientists praise CBE for battered boss of animal research labs. Mark Henderson, The Times (London), June 15, 2002.

Controversial lab director gets award. The BBC, June 15, 2002.

Head of animal research laboratory appointed CBE. Christopher Adams and Krishna Guha, The Financial Times (London), June 15, 2002.

Fury at CBE for Huntingdon boss. Lucy McDonald, ThisIsMoney.Com, June 16, 2002.