Tag: New Jersey

Five New Jersey Activists Set for Trial in Seaboard Securities Protest

The New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance sent out an appeal for funds in late December to aid five activists set to go on trial in late January.

According to the appeal,

Back in July, five activists were arrested at a silent, peaceful protest against Seaboard Securities, a market maker which allows Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) to trade its stocks. The activists were simply displaying their disapproval of Seaboard’s complicity in the murders of 500 animals a day at HLS — a lab which conducts cruel procedures on animals in the name of “science.” . . .

These false arrests have proven to be a financial hardship for two of the activists — one an NJARA member and employee — who have retained a lawyer to help fight the false allegations and defend their right to free speech for the animals.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much information about the original arrests or the pending trial (even the NJARA’s website has no mention of it), so anyone who can point me to additional information on this case would be greatly appreciated.

Source:

Defend your right to speak up for the animals! New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, Press Release, December 30, 2004.

Activists Protest New Jersey Fur Store

About 20 activists affiliated with Caring Activists Against Fur protested on January 8 oustide of Steven Corn Furs in Paramus, New Jersey. According to the Bergen Record, the activists were,

. . . shouting at customers and holding signs showing bloodied, skinless animals with the words: “Here’s the rest of your fur coat.”

The Record managed to obtained some interesting quotes for activists. For example, Julie Bolkin O’Connor told the Record why she was there,

We need to be out here connecting the dots between the fur coat and the murder of the animals. Our presence educates people.

Fur is made from dead animals? Who knew?

Steven Corns Furs manager John Paul attempted to defend the killing of animals for fur, telling the Record that mink raised for fur live 5-7 years before being culled compared to the average life span of mink in the wild which he pegged at 2-3 years before, “They die from starvation, disease or being eaten by another animal.”

Animal rights activist Debbie Kowalski was ready for that line of reasoning, telling the Record,

Breeding minks can live up to five to seven years . . . that’s in a prison. The ones they actually use for the coat, that they skinned, are 8 to 10 months old, and they’re killed.

In prison and presumably without a jury trial (shades of Gitmo).

And I know that, as anti-animal rights activists, I’m not supposed to keep repeating that line that activists care more about animals than human beings, so forgive me in advance for repeating what activist Bill Triglia told the Record,

I like animals. They don’t kill nearly as much as humans.

Triglia might want to familiarize himself more with some of the more rapacious and murderous of the animal kingdom. For example, during its primary feeding season the blue whale consumes upwards of 40 million krill each day in order to secure adequate nutrition. That’s 40 million cute little crustaceans whose lives are snuffed out without a second thought by those vicious whales.

Source:

Protesters hot under collar over furs.

Apparent Corruption Results in Closing of NJ SPCA Chapter

In October the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals took the extraordinary step of ordering its Hunterdon County chapter to shut down over revelations that came about due to the manslaughter trial of former NBA star Jayson Williams.

Williams was ultimately acquitted of aggravated manslaughter charges, but convicted of attempting to cover up the fatal shooting of a limousine driver. The jury deadlocked on charges of reckless manslaughter, and Williams is scheduled to be retried on that charge in 2005.

One of the revelations that was barred from being entered into evidence was that Williams had shot and killed his dog after losing a bet with a teammate about the dog’s effectiveness as a guard dog (for more details on that incident, see this story).

That raised the question of why Williams had never been prosecuted for animal cruelty, and the evidence pointed to corruption. Two weeks after the August 2001 shooting of the rottweiler, the Hunterdon County SPCA accepted a $500 donation from Williams and no criminal charges were ever filed against him. The New Jersey SPCA has subsequently filed civil charges against Williams, which is its only option since the statute of limitations on the dog shooting has long since expired.

New Jersey SPCA president Stuart Rhodes told the Associated Press that Hunterdon SPCA executive director never replied to letters he sent asking her to explain her failure to prosecute Williams,,

I was looking for her [Carlson] to explain reasons why she didn’t prosecute Jayson Williams. She should have at least entered the charges. But by doing nothing, she allowed him to walk. And then you accept a donation?

Source:

SPCA closes chapter in ex-NBA star’s case. The Associated Press, October 11, 2004.

Some Activists Unhappy with HSUS' Use of Dead Pigs in Bear Experiments

The Humane Society of the United States is making some animal rights activist unhappy with an otherwise animal rights-style project.

The HSUS has reached agreements with Six Flags Wild Safari in New Jersey to carry out an experiment in using contraception rather than hunting to control bear populations. The HSUS will do two separate tests, one in which it will inject female bears with PZP and another where it will administer a chemical castration compound, Neutrosol, to male bears.

It is the PZP experiment that had New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance activist Joe Miele complaining in a post to AR-NEWS that “HSUS [is] exploiting pigs to save bears.” When injected into bears, PZP causes an immune system reaction that has a byproduct of preventing sperm from fertilizing a female’s eggs. PZP is obtained by taking tissue from dead pigs.

Vegan birth control it ain’t. Presumably it was undertaken on one of the days of the week when HSUS doesn’t oppose animal research.

Source:

Bear contraception to be tested at Six Flags. Brian Murray, New Jersey Star-Ledger, October 8, 2004.

Judge Rejects Seaboard Securities' Injunction Request

A New Jersey judge in September refused to grant a securities firm an injunction limiting protests by animal rights activists against the firm.

Seaboard Securities Inc. was targeted by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty after it signed on as a market maker for Huntingdon Life Sciences. A market maker is a company that is prepared to buy and sell stock in an over-the-counter stock, such as Huntingdon Life Sciences, in order to create an orderly market mechanism for trading in shares of the stock.

Five animal rights activists were arrested in late July during a protest at the firm’s headquarters in Florham, New Jersey. Shortly afterward Seaboard Securities Inc. stopped acting as a market maker for HLS stock. Seaboard Securities’ attorney David Wadyka told The New Jersey Daily Record that the firm wants to resume acting as a market maker for HLS, but only if it knows it can do so without being harassed by SHAC.

According to the New Jersey Daily Record, Seaboard Securities,

. . . presented the judge [Judge Kenneth C. MacKenzie] with a host of conditions, such as enjoining protesters from coming within 100 feet of Seaboard Securities, barring them from e-mailing or calling employees, and limiting the amount of time they could protest outside Seaboard Securities.

The problem was that the only incident that Seaboard Securities could site as an example of harassment was the August protest, which was pretty slim pickings to ask for such a sweeping court order. SHAC attorney Leonard Egert argued that there was no proof, in any case, that the activists involved in the July protest were part of SHAC.

In declining to issue the restraining order against SHAC, Judge MacKenze said,

The court is not satisfied there is a real controversy before the court that requires its intercession.

Source:

Animal activists win round. Peggy Wright, September 15, 2004.

Judge Denies Request to Revoke Kevin Kjonaas' Bail

In early September federal prosecutors filed a motion to revoke Kevin Kjonaas’ bail. Kjonaas was charged earlier this year with federal stalking and conspiracy to commit stalking charges. He and others were granted bail on the condition they refrain from “disseminating any personal or private information about company employees and their families, and from threatening or inducing others to threaten anyone.”

Federal prosecutors claimed that a violent protest at the home of a Chiron employee was coordinated by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, and that Kjonaas ” as the president of SHAC — is responsible for its activities.”

But on September 15, 2004, U.S. District Judge Mary Cooper ruled that there was no proof that Kjonaas was responsible for the protest and that he could remain free on bail.

The New Jersey Star Ledger reported that federal prosecutors indicated that they plan to ask Judge Cooper to impose restrictions on SHAC itself and also plan to add federal harassment charges against Kjonaas and three other defendants.

Source:

Animal activist stays free on bail despite accusations of violence. Jonathan Schuppe, New Jersey Star-Ledger, September 16, 2004.